


Past & Future ( Daryl Dixon x Reader )

by Sourwolf_sterek32



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Badass Reader, Childhood Friends, F/M, Hurt Daryl Dixon, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Pregnant Reader, Protective Daryl Dixon, daryl fucks up and tries to make it better, hurt reader, none of it written in detail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-03-20 05:57:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18986647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sourwolf_sterek32/pseuds/Sourwolf_sterek32
Summary: You had been with Daryl Dixon for most of your life. Sticking together through all the curve balls life tried throwing at you, until one day something happened that changed everything.Now after 18 months apart, your paths cross again in this new world and you’ll both have to face what had happened in the past in order to move forward for the future.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is just the background information you need before the story properly starts off, so please bare with me, it will get better.

**Before...**

Growing up you knew you were never wanted by your parents, you were 'the accident that screwed up their entire life' as your mother would put it, while your father would say the same thing only with a bit more colourful language. Neither of them wanted you and to this day you couldn't figure out why they never just had an abortion or put you up for adoption when you were a baby.

You spend your childhood with parents that hated you and barely spoke to you, but you knew you should be happy to have a roof over your head and food on the table every night, so you never spoke about it. Daryl Dixon on the other hand didn't have it as easy.

The two of you had become friends during primary school, neither of you had any friends before, always keeping to yourselves, until one day you came across an older kid picking on a boy roughly your age.

You had seen him around school and during classes, with his ripped jeans and oversized shirts that were clearly hand-me-downs, but you had never spoken to him before. For a second you thought about just turning your back and walking away from the fight. It wasn't your problem and you didn't really want to get on the radar of the bullies, but when you heard the insults they were saying you couldn't just turn your back.

"You're nothing but a good for nothing, redneck. Your parents can't even buy you new school clothes, or even clean them for that matter! Pathetic!" The eldest boy, Jordan, teased. He would have been a couple grades higher than you and one of the most popular guys in school. "Give me your lunch money, shortie!"

"Don't have none." Daryl responded, trying to keep his temper under control knowing he couldn't afford another trip to the principal's office for misbehaving.

"Everyone has lunch money, give it here otherwise you'll regret it." Jordan yelled and you sighed walking towards the two of them behind the building.

"Hey! Go pick on someone your own size!" You shouted, catching the boys attention as they glanced over at you in surprise. You continued walking towards them, stopping as you reached Daryl's side. You could feel him staring at you in confusion, but you kept your eyes trained on Jordan who took a step towards you.

"Why would I do that, when this is so much fun?" He asked, glancing back and forth between you and Daryl before his eyes settled on you. "Since he isn't giving me any money, I want your lunch money instead."

You stared at the boy for a few seconds, contemplating how to deal with this situation before you nodded. You pulled out a five-dollar bill from your pocket and held it in front of you, making sure you had a firm grip on the note.

Jordan looked at you in shock, clearly not expecting you to actually listen to him before his face stretched out into a grin. He took a few steps towards you before reaching for the money in your hand.

You waited until he grabbed the other side of the note before you slammed your foot into his groin, forcing him to let go of your money as he dropped to his knees, groaning in pain. You took a step towards him as you crouched down so you were level with his face, grabbing his gel filled hair you ripped his head up so he had no choice but to look at you.

"If you so much as look at Daryl again, I'm gonna make sure every kid in school knows that you got your ass handed to you by a girl, two years younger than you. Got it?" You questioned, your voice calm as the boy frantically nodded before you smiled. "Good. Have a nice day."

You stood back up and turned around to find Daryl staring at you with a mixture of shock and respect as you gave him a shy smile before nodding your head indicating for him to follow you as you walked towards the cafeteria.

Daryl followed you without a word, still confused on why a girl he had never spoken to decided to help him. You bought two packets potato chips, before sitting at the empty table on the far end of the room as Daryl sat on the chair opposite you.

"Why'd ya help me?" He asked, knowing there was no point going with his first response of 'I could have handled that myself, I didn't need your help' he didn't want to be rude to the girl, he knew who you were. The whole town referred to you as the unwanted kid, your parents always getting drunk at the bar and rambling about how much you had fucked up their lives by being born. He felt bad for you, but at the same time he was glad that he wasn't the only misfit in town, knowing that his father and family name had a pretty strong reputation.

"Don't like bullies." You simply replied as you slid one of the packets of chips towards Daryl who instantly shook his head. "Don't argue, I can't eat both of them myself."

"Then why'd ya buy two?" He asked causing you to chuckle slightly. Daryl watched as you dropped your head trying to hide your face, your Y/H/L Y/H/C hair falling down over your eyes, blocking his view of you slightly, but he could still see the slight upturn of your lips as you chuckled and God, did you have a beautiful laugh.

"I don't know. You can take the packet and leave, I know most people don't like being around me." You said after a few seconds of silence causing Daryl to shake his head again.

"Those people are idiots. My name's Daryl." He replied, grabbing the packet as he began eating.

"Y/N."

-

Ever since then the two of you had stuck together. Over time Daryl began opening up to you, telling you about his father and his late-mother and in return you told him a bit about your parents, confirming the rumours he heard about you being an unwanted child. Neither of you wanted to live with your parents for any longer than necessary, so once you both reached high school you went out and got afterschool jobs.

Daryl worked as a helper at the local mechanics garage while you ended up getting a job at the local bar, washing dishes and cleaning up afterhours. Neither jobs paid well, but it was money either way so you didn't complain.

Once you both graduated high school, the two of you had been a couple for nearly two years. High school sweethearts as some may call it, but you didn't get to move out of your parent's houses until three years later. By then Daryl had been promoted at the garage and was nearly a full paid mechanic while you shifted up the ranks at the bar and was now one of the main bartenders.

Between the two of you, you were able to rent out a small trailer at the trailer park. It only had one bed, a shower, toilet, small kitchen and a couch with a fold out table. It wasn't much, but it got Daryl away from his abusive father and it got you away from your parents who didn't want you.

You weren't sure if it was a good thing or not, but Merle also managed to scrape up enough money and bought himself a trailer at the other end of the trailer park. You had no idea where Merle got the money from and you were almost certain that you didn't want to know anyway, so you never asked.

You never had an issue with the older brother, you knew he did some kind of drug deals occasionally and you and Daryl have had to bail him out few too many times, but he was still a decent man. The only time you had a problem with him was when he'd drink too much at the bar. He never did anything to hurt you while he was drunk, Daryl made sure of that, but he was just a pain in the ass whenever it was closing time.

You had been working at that bar for over 10 years now and you knew every customer by their name and favourite drink. You were fairly laid back at the bar, the owner basically leaving you in charge while he travelled and went on holidays most the time so you practically ran the joint. You liked most the local customers and they all seemed to like you, except there was one man who you hated seeing walk through the front door. Daryl's father, Will Dixon.

He was an grumpy old man who only got worse the more he drank and you have had to call the cops on him more than once when he threatened to kill you if you didn't give him another drink. You knew it was an empty threat, but you also knew that he wouldn't hesitate to throw his bottle of beer at you or another customer so you never took the risk.

"Closing time fellas!" You called, glancing at the last four men and one woman seated the bar, all of them groaning in annoyance as you rolled your eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You've all had your fun for he night, it's past midnight already, you all should be thanking me for letting you stay an extra 20 minutes past closing time."

It took another 10 minutes before the last customer left the bar and by the time you finished cleaning up and restocking the fridges for the people on morning shift, it was now past one in the morning.

Walking through the front door of the trailer you turned the lounge room/kitchen light on, so you actually see where you were walking and you smiled hearing Daryl's soft snores coming from your bedroom, indicating that he was asleep.

You knew he had an early shift tomorrow at the garage, so you were glad the truck didn't wake him up when you pulled up a few minutes ago.

Despite how exhausted and tired you were, you knew you needed a shower, but by the time you finished and walked back out the shower you found Daryl sitting up in bed waiting for you.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." You said walking into the bedroom as you dropped your bath towel and got changed into your pyjama pants and tank top. You could feel Daryl's eyes watching you and few years ago you would have gotten self-conscious with him watching you get changed, but not anymore.

"Nah, it's alright. I missed ya, Sunshine." Daryl replied, wrapping his arm over your shoulders as you crawled into bed beside him, smiling at the nickname he had given you back during high school and after all these years it still stuck. "No one caused ya any trouble at work?" He asked and you shook your head as you let him pull you into his chest.

"I missed you too, I hate it when you're on morning shift at the garage and I'm on afternoon shift." You admitted, closing your eyes as you wrapped your arm around Daryl's stomach.

"Mmm." Daryl hummed in agreement, placing a gentle kiss to the top of your head. "At least we both got Sunday off."

"I vote we just stay in bed all day." You mumbled unable to stop yourself from yawning as Daryl chuckled slightly.

"You've been really tired lately." Daryl commented, but it wasn't a judgement, you could hear the slight concern in his voice as he said it.

"Yeah, just been busy at work these past few weeks. I got the whole weekend off though, so I can sleep in tomorrow. However, you have to wake up early, so get some sleep, Dixon." You replied as Daryl grunted in response, kissing the side of your head before he turned the bedside lamp off.

Your plan for sleeping in didn't go so well, since it was 6am and you were currently face down in the toilet throwing up your food from the night before. If there was one thing you absolutely hated, it was throwing up. Just the taste in your mouth and how it felt like your insides were going to come up, the burning in your throat and don't even start on the disgusting stench.

"Y/N?" You heard Daryl call from the bedroom, but you were too busy throwing up again to even respond and within seconds you felt your hair being pulled back away from your face as Daryl rubbed your back softly, not knowing what else to do to help.

Eventually the nausea seemed to pass as you flushed the toilet and sat back down against the bathroom wall. Daryl disappeared for a few seconds before coming back in with a glass of water allowing you to rinse the disgusting taste out of your mouth. 

"Thank you." You sighed resting the back of your head against the wall as you tried to catch your breath from throwing up for the past 10 minutes.

"I'm gonna call work, tell 'em that I can't come in today." Daryl said after a few seconds, his worried eyes staring at you as he sat down on the edge of the bath, hating how pale your face was.

"No, don't do that. I'm fine, this must have been that dodgy burger I had for lunch yesterday." You replied, trying to shrug it off as no big deal, but you had a sinking feeling in your stomach that this wasn't because of the burger. "Daryl, seriously, I'm fine. I feel better already."

"Alright, but ya take it easy today." He said after a few seconds, knowing there was no point trying to argue with you as you nodded.

-

***A Few Hours Later***

Shit. Shit. Shit. This couldn't be true, it had to be some kind of mistake, you thought to yourself. But as you stared at the three different brands of positive pregnancy tests on the bathroom sink, you knew it was no mistake. How'd this even happen? You and Daryl were always so careful, you couldn't afford to have a kid, you could barely afford enough money to pay the bills let alone look after a baby.

You didn't even know if Daryl wanted to have kids in the future, you had never spoken about that topic with him. You knew he didn't have a good childhood, hell it was far from good and you wouldn't blame him for not wanting children after what he had to go through as a child, but what the heck were you meant to do now? He was going to be a father whether he liked it or not, because deep down you knew you'd never be able to go through with an abortion or put it up for adoption. Your own parents never wanted you and you were going to make damn well sure that this baby didn't have to go through the same thing.

You wanted to wait until the right time to tell Daryl, so you threw the pregnancy tests in a garbage bin down the street so Daryl wouldn't accidently come across them in the trailer. Although as the weeks slowly passed, you knew you weren't waiting for the right time, you were just trying to put it off for as long as possible. You had no idea how Daryl would react, a part of you hoped that he would be thrilled and happy, but a more logical side of your brain told you that he might not be so thrilled about the idea.

"It's been three weeks, Y/N, ya ain't gettin' better. Ya need to go to the doctors." Daryl said, glancing over at you in the passenger seat of his truck as he pulled into the trailer park.

"No, I don't." You sighed resting your head back against the car seat in tiredness.

"Why the hell not?" He snapped, causing you to flinch at the sudden harshness in his voice. You knew he was just worried about you and it wasn't fair on him by keeping it a secret. He was going to find out eventually, it wasn't like you could try hide it and hope it everything would just work itself, because life didn't work like that. "Hey, why don't ya want to go to the doctors?" He asked, his voice now softer as he continued driving towards the trailer.

"Because I'm pregnant..." You stated, staring at your lap, not wanting to see the look on Daryl's face as he slammed his foot on the brakes, stopping the truck instantly. You could feel his eyes staring at you in pure shock, but you didn't look at him. You were too scared to look at him. 

Neither of you said anything for a few minutes as you fiddled with the loose threat on your jeans before you finally lifted your head to look at him. He was staring out the front window, his fingers nervously tapping the steering wheel as he tried to process what you just said.

"Say something, please. Anything, just say something." You whispered, staring at your boyfriend as he shook his head, putting the truck into gear as he drove the remaining 100 metres to the trailer before he hit the brakes, this time more gently.

"Get out the car." Daryl muttered, staring at the grey trailer through the front windscreen, not wanting to look at you.

"But, Daryl-" You tried saying before he cut you off.

"Go!" He shouting causing to you jump a little and he sighed. "M'sorry, I just need time to think, can ya at least give me that?" He asked, glancing over at you hating the tears rising in your eyes as you bit your lip forcing the tears to stay down before nodding slightly.

You barely had your car door shut before Daryl started reversing back onto the road and sped off, leaving you standing in front of the trailer watching the truck disappear in the distance. You couldn't help the silent tears that fell down your cheeks as you stared at the trail of dust left behind from Daryl's truck before you made your way inside the trailer.

You didn't even bother getting changed out of your work clothes before you sat down on the couch with your head in your hands, trying to calm yourself down. Daryl just needed some time to think, everything was going to fine. Everything was going to be fine and Daryl was going to come home soon and the two of you were going to figure it out. Everything will be fine, you repeated to yourself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: mentions of sexual assault/attempt rape, it's not written in detail, but I know this is a sensitive topic for some so take care of yourself and skip this chapter is you need to.

18 months into the apocalypse and this new world still seemed to surprise you. There was always a new threat lurking around the corner, along with the constant fear of the biters getting into camp, but you were more worried about the living rather than the dead these days.

You had been with a fairly large group at the start of all of this, bumping into a few members who were on a supply run and they instantly bought you into their group. At first you thought finding this group was the best thing that had happened to you since the start of all of this, one of the women Mia, was a midwife and told you she could help you deliver your baby.

You and Mia quickly became good friends, but she told you something about the leader of the group that made your blood turn cold.

The leader John, was a strong fighter, he was the one that set up camp in the large warehouse you guys were staying in, he was the one who bought you into the group and kept you and your unborn baby safe. You never had any reason to even think that he was a bad guy, but apparently he was.

In exchange for his protection, all the women in the group 'belonged to him' as Mia put it. Saying that every night he'd take a woman into his tent so she could replay him for his protection. There were five of you in total, along with six men who didn't even seemed phased by what the leader did.

Now that you knew about it, you began to see it. It was nothing huge, but you saw the small looks he'd give the other women in camp and when everyone would disappear into their tents that you guys had set up throughout the warehouse, you noticed he was always 'checking on everyone' in their tents, but you knew what he was doing. The sick bastard.

You didn't dare try question him about it, you didn't want to get on his bad side since he had never actually done anything to you. Although, you suspected that was because you were pregnant and your suspicion was right.

You were barely with the group for a month before you went into labour and after 12 painfully long hours, with the help of Mia, you gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

Holding your daughter for the first time you broke down crying as Mia tried to calm you down, saying that the you and the baby were perfectly fine and everything was okay, but it wasn't okay. You wanted Daryl, you needed Daryl. You didn't even know if he was dead or alive, you hadn't seen him since that night all those months ago.

You were conflicted with emotions, you wanted to hate Daryl for leaving you and the baby behind, you wanted to hate him for knocking you up just as the world turned to shit, you wanted to hate him for never coming back for you when the dead started to rise. But, deep down inside you still loved him, and wished he was with you.

The others in the group all congratulated you, saying how beautiful the baby was, even the leader congratulated you, before he went back outside to stand guard of the warehouse with a few of the other guys.

That night Mia stayed in your tent, not wanting you to be alone during your first night with a newborn and wanted to help you since you were a first time mother.

"Has she got a name yet?" Mia asked as she finished zipping up the door to your tent as she crawled into her sleeping bag beside you.

"Not yet." You replied, staring down at the baby girl fast asleep in your lap as you sat on top of your sleeping bag. You had finally gotten her to stop crying and one of the other women had given you a small one-piece jumpsuit they had found on a supply run a few weeks ago so she could have more than a small blanket on her to keep her warm.

"Did you and your partner ever talk about names?" She asked, glancing over at you, but before you could respond the zip to your tent began opening and John walked in. You froze for a few seconds in confusion. He had never come into your tent before...

"Now that you've had this baby, it's time to for you to repay me for keeping you safe, for bringing you into this group and providing you with food and shelter." The leader stated, his eyes glued to you as your heart began to beat out of your chest in panic. You couldn't find the words to speak as the leader began walking towards you, his hands already reaching for the belt of his pants and you felt like you were going to be sick.

"No, not tonight. She just gave birth eight hours ago, Y/N needs to rest." Mia quickly argued as she got out her sleeping bag and stood between you and leader to stop him getting any closer to you or the baby you had cradled to your chest.

"I'm not asking, now get out the way." He growled pushing the older woman to the ground as you held your baby closer to your chest protectively, not wanting him to touch her.

"I will let you do whatever you want to me, just don't touch either of them." Mia suddenly said as she stood up, glancing over at you and you quickly shook your head, silently begging her not to do this as John chuckled and began walking towards her.

"I guess that could be arranged." He responded, pushing Mia down on top of her sleeping bag as he began undoing his belt while Mia looked over at you on the other side of the small tent with a sad smile, knowing what was about to happen. But you shook your head, tears threatening to spill from your eyes as watched the leader stand above Mia still trying to get his belt off.

You didn't even realise what you were doing as you gently placed your sleeping baby on top of your pillow before pulling out your hunting knife from your belt. Quietly, you got to your feet, the leader with his back turned to you and completely oblivious to what you were about to do.

You took a few steps towards him, holding you knife out as you glanced down at Mia and pressed your finger to yours lips and she nodded ever so slightly before you sunk the blade of your knife into the side of the leaders neck.

Blood splattered everywhere as he screamed in pain, waking your baby up as she began crying above his pained screams. Before you could pull the knife out and stab him again, he suddenly spun around, pulling out his own knife from his belt and swinging the blade at your face. You quickly turned your head away, taking a step back to dodge the sharp serrated metal, but you weren't quick enough as the blade pieced through your skin, leaving a long think cut near the corner of your mouth right up to your eyebrow.

You could feel the blood dripping down your face as a burning pain seared through your cheek from the cut, but you ignored it as you slammed your foot into the mans groin sending him to the ground too weak to defend himself. You yanked the knife out his neck and slammed it back down, ending it once and for all.

"We need to go. Everyone would have heard that, the others will kill us if they find him." You whispered, glancing over at Mia who was staring at you in pure shock before she snapped into gear and began throwing all your belongings into a backpack. You grabbed your daughter, rocking her in your arms trying to calm her down before you heard the front door of the warehouse slam open.

"Biters! Biters! Everyone run!" One of the guys yelled and within a second you heard everyone's tents opening as gunshot began filling the air. Shit, shit, shit, you needed to get out of here.

"C'mon. There's a small office on the other side of the warehouse, we can escape through the window in there." Mia informed, throwing the backpack over her shoulders as you walked over to your crying daughter, picking her up as Mia handed you the dummy from her bag. You put it in your baby's mouth, rocking her in your arms and within seconds she began to calm down. Thank God, she was an easy baby.

"Let's go." You said, holding your daughter to your chest away from the blood that was trickling down your neck as you and Mia quickly ran out your tent. You froze as your eyes took in your surroundings, most of your group members were all lying motionless on the floor, biters leaning over and eating them. You could hear gunshots being fired from the far end of the warehouse indicating that a few others were still alive and fighting for their lives, but luckily for you the gunshots drew the attention of all the biters, allowing you and Mia to run the other way into the office.

A few biters spotted you guys and began stumbling in your direction but you quickly closed the office door behind you as Mia tried sliding open the office window.

"The window is jammed!" Mia shouted in panic as you quickly looked around the room trying to find anything to smash the glass with when you eyes landed on a chair sitting by a broken desk.

"Hold her for a sec." You said, Mia immediately held her arms out as you gently placed your daughter in her hands before you rushed around the desk and grabbed the chair. You could hear the biters banging and pushing against the office door and you knew it was only a matter of minutes before they busted through the wooden frame.

Lifting up the chair, you walked towards the window and slammed the legs of the chair against the glass, but it only cracked it.

"God damnit." You muttered, swinging the chair harder against the glass, cracking it a little more as you repeated that action a few more times until the glass finally shattered. You quickly knocked all the sharp pieces off from the window seal as you scanned the small room looking for something to cover the window ledge with so the two of you wouldn't cut yourself while climbing out.

"There's a blanket in the bag!" Mia quickly said as she gently but quickly took the backpack off her shoulders as she handed it to you. You were relieved to find the blanket sitting on top of everything else in the bag so you didn't have to try search for it amongst the other things that Mia had stashed in the bag.

You hurriedly grabbed the blanket and threw it over the window ledge, covering all the glass shards that were still scattered along the ledge. Turning back towards Mia about to tell her to climb out first, your eyes caught sight of the door behind her as it busted open, biters falling into the room by the double.

"Shit. Quick!" You yelled, turning back to the window as you grabbed the window ledge and jumped through the large gap before turning back towards Mia .

She passed you your baby through the gap as you held her protectively against your chest with one hand while you held your other out for Mia so you could help her climb through the gap.

"The bag!" She shouted, turning away from the window as she ran towards the bag sitting in the middle of the room, you could see the biters stumbling towards her as she bent down to grab the bag.

You were frozen to the spot and all you all could do was watch in horror as she began running back towards the window before a biter grabbed her shoulder, sinking its rotting teeth into her skin. An ear-piercing scream filled the air and you had no idea if it came out of yours or Mia's mouth, but someone was definitely screaming as Mia pushed the biter away from her body with enough force to send it ass up before she ran over to the window where you were standing absolutely petrified.

"Here." Mia winced passing you the backpack through the window. "It has weapons, food, water, just take it and go. You keep that baby safe, you find another group and raise your baby right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this new world, but you gotta keep a moral compass, you gotta do what is right."

"I'm not leaving you!" You shouted, barely processing what she had just said as you glanced back at the biters in the office, stumbling towards her. "W-we can work something out, you don't have to die." You stuttered, tears falling from your cheeks as the older woman shook her head.

"I'm going to die anyway." She replied, motioning towards the bloodied bite on her shoulder. "Get out of here, you'll be fine. You're stronger than this, Y/N, I know you are. Now, go! I'll hold them back for as long as possible. Go!"

"Thank you." You whispered, your voice barely above a whisper as she gave you a sad smile before you slung the backpack over your shoulders and took off running down the road.

You held your daughter to your chest, one hand cradling the back of her head so she wasn't moving while you ran. You ran for nearly 10 minutes, but if felt like hours before your body couldn't take it anymore, not after giving birth less than 24 hours ago. Everything hurt, your chest burned as you tried to get oxygen into your lungs.

It was a full moon, so you could easily see the road and the woods around you, but you still hated being out in the open during the night. Especially when your baby could start crying at any second, attracting every biter for miles. God, how did your life end up like this?

_Before..._

_You decided to wait for Daryl to come back home, so you sat on the couch, your knees bought up to your chest as you watched some crappy television show. But you must have fallen asleep at one stage because the next thing you knew the front door was slammed open as you quickly sat up in slight panic and confusion before you spotted Daryl standing in the door way._

_"We ain't havin' no baby." Daryl muttered, his voice slightly slurred and you knew he must have went to the bar if the bottle of beer in his hand was any indication. There_ _weren't_ _many times you had seen Daryl drunk, but you knew he got highly sensitive and angry when he was drunk and he knew that too, which is why he was rarely drunk in_ _around you._

_"I'm not afraid to have this child." You stated, trying to keep your voice strong as you stood up from the couch and walked over to him._

_Daryl scoffed at your response and you could smell the cheep alcohol on his breath as he took another swig of his beer before he threw it_ _onto_ _the kitchen bench, the glass smashing down into the sink with a crash._

_"Actually, yeah lets keep it, it might be nice. Lets have a baby in this shitty town. Raise It in this cheap-ass trailer, which we can barely afford by the way! Let's have a little baby who's grandfather is an abusive alcoholic, who's other grandparents don't want nothin' to fuckin' do with 'em. Lets have a baby who's father is a piece of shit and will probably end up hurtin' it, who's mother's a fuckin' bartender and don't even know the first thing 'bout bein' a parent 'cause her parents were ain't ever there for her and she'll end up being just like 'em!" Daryl shouted, his voice still slurred from the alcohol as he threw his hands up in the air in frustration._

_"Stop it." You yelled, tears starting to burn in your eyes as you stared at the man you loved in disbelief. You knew he clearly had one too many drinks, but that didn't excuse him for what he was saying._ _  
_

_"No you stop it." Daryl snapped, taking a few steps towards you until your faces were inches apart. "Ya ain't even held this baby in your arms 'n ya already attached to it. You'd feel so bad 'bout yourself for bein' such a selfish bitch that-" Daryl began shouting_ _but you didn't let him finish as_ _you slapped him across the face._

_"Stop it!" You yelled, a stray tear falling down your cheek as you stared at him, daring him to even try hit you back as he shook his head._

_"Ya pissin' me off with your little fuckin' angel eyes ya know that? Get rid of it!" Daryl instructed, turning away and walking into the bedroom, leaving you standing in the middle of the room in shock to what just happened. You honestly had no idea how you thought he was going to react, but you never expected this._

_"Where are you going?" You asked, watching as Daryl walked back out with a duffle bag full of clothes. He wasn't seriously leaving was he?_

_"To Merle's"_

_"When are you coming back?" You questioned, your voice now softer as you realised that he actually was leaving._

_"Dunno." He muttered, pulling the car keys out of his pocket as he began walking towards the door._

_"Fine, but you aren't driving this intoxicated. Give me the keys." You ordered, holding your hand out as Daryl shook his head in annoyance and dropped he keys on the ground. He glanced over at you, meeting your red teary eyes, staring at you for one last time before he stormed out the trailer._

_Once the front door slammed behind him you dropped onto your knees in chocked sobs, too exhausted to fight your emotions anymore as you cried._

Your body was shaking as you finally came to a stop, your breathing quick and laboured as you glanced down at your daughter in your arms, her bright blue eyes staring up at you with Daryl's signature stare. God, she already reminded you so much of him and it didn't help that her crystal blue eyes were a splitting image of his. Suddenly anger began to sweep over you as you thought of Daryl.

He had left you, he had just left and never came back. You told him you were pregnant and that was the end. Merle had said that he still loved you, that Daryl had been miserable without you, but that was his own fault for leaving. Did he not think of how you would feel? Did he not care that you were heartbroken and scared to raise the baby on your own? Did he even worry about you when the breakout started?

You honestly had no idea what you would do if Daryl just showed up. The chances of that ever happening was basically nil, but even hypothetically you had no idea if you'd hug him or punch him. You hoped he was alive though, despite what he had done to you and as crazy as it might sound, you stilled loved him. You would never stop loving Daryl Dixon. The two of you had been through too much over the years for your feelings for the man to just disappear.

Shaking your head at your thoughts, you looked back down at your daughter, her eyes now closed and you sighed with relief before you continued walking down the road. You had no idea where you were going, you figured you were somewhere in Georgia still, but you had no idea where so you just kept walking.

You managed to find an abandon car on the side of the road a few miles ahead and ended up camping there for the night. Your daughter had slept the entire walk, but once you shut the car door she had woken up and began crying. You quickly began undoing the buttons on your flannel shirt and pulled your tank top and bra down so you start feeding her, knowing that even though you were locked into the car, the biters could probably still her cries.

To your relief, she quieted down immediately and began drinking as your eyes scanned your surroundings through the car windows making sure there weren't any biters around. Once she was finished you burped her like how Mia had shown you and gently began rocking her in your arms.

Within five minutes the baby girl was fast asleep in your lap as you began going through the backpack which was on the chair next to you. You had no idea what Mia had packed as you began taking the items out. An axe, gun holster with a Glock 19 inside, two water bottles, a few cans of peaches, another blanket, a spare baby dummy and a small first aid kit.

You already had a handgun that you had taken from John which was now tucked in the back of your pants, so you grabbed the other handgun checking the clip to find it was fully loaded as you made sure the safety was on before you strapped the gun holster around your thigh and secured the handgun inside.

Glancing at the first aid kit you only just remembered the cut along the side of your face which was now starting to thump in pain.

"How did I forget about it?" You asked yourself quietly, glancing down at your daughter in your lap who was still fast asleep before you grabbed the revision mirror and turned it towards you and you winced taking in the deep cut and dried blood down the side of your face. You knew the cut needed stitches, but you needed to clean the cut and the dry blood off first before you attempted to stitch it.

There wasn't much inside the small first aid kit, but it had a few band aids, bandages, alcohol wipes and luckily for you a needle and thread. It wasn't the first time you have to stitch someone up, over the years both Dixon brothers got themselves into fights, Merle more so than Daryl, resulting in you having to clean and stitch them up, since they always refused to go to the hospital. So by now you were pretty good at it. You just wished you were sitting with the two brothers and stitching one of them after a fight instead of stitching yourself up in the middle of the apocalypse, alone and with a baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yes, I know this series has started out slow, but next chapter really kicks it up a gear when Y/N comes across Rick and the group, so stay tuned! And if that flashback scene with Daryl seemed familiar well that's because it was heavily inspired from a scene in Norman Reedus’ movie sky.
> 
> I hope you all are liking this fic so far and just a little disclaimer; I know nothing about babies, I have never held one, I have never been around one, I barely know anything about them. So everything I write about the baby is purely based on what I’ve seen on tv, strangers in public and google. So if I write something that seems wrong, I’m sorry, but I’m trying.
> 
> Please like, reblog, comment etc if you like this, knowing you guys like my writing just really makes me happy and encourages me to continue, but until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timeline in this series compared to the show is slightly different, you’ll know what I mean after this chapter, but it’s nothing major.

Within a week of just following the same road you finally came across a vehicle that still had fuel in the tank and you thought you would never think this, but you were glad that Daryl had taught you how to hotwire a car when you were teenagers. Although you were kinda surprised you remembered after all these years. Nevertheless, you had a vehicle and managed to syphon almost a full jerry can of fuel from other cars you had passed on the road.

You could now tell the difference between your daughters cries and was able to look after her better now that you had started getting used to it. It was scaring enough being a new mother, but having to raise a baby in the apocalypse was damn near terrifying.

You had managed to find a baby car seat in some old van you had passed a few days, which you transferred into your pick-up truck which was where your daughter was currently sitting secured in the soft seat. You glanced over at her through the revision mirror, noticing she had woken up, but seemed to be amusing herself with the blanket over her lap for the time being.

Focusing back on the road as the sun continued to rise above the tree tops you spotted a biter crouched down on the side of the road eating something. You continued driving, not really paying much attention to the biter since it was only one and you could easily dodge it, not wanting to risk any body parts getting stuck under the car and breaking something. You needed this truck, it was your transport and home all in one.

"What the hell?" You muttered, watching the biter stood up as you continued driving towards it, however, it wasn't a biter, it was a girl. "Oh my God." You gasped, quickly slowing the truck down as the girl turned towards the vehicle and you could tell by the expression on her face that she was scared.

Putting the hand break on, you parked the truck 10 metres in front of her, not wanting to risk anything in case this was some kind of trap. You stayed in the car for a few seconds, staring at the girl as she stood frozen on the side of the road staring right back at you. With a final glance at your daughter in the back seat, you grabbed the small axe from the passenger seat and slipped it through your belt beside your knife sheath before you climbed out the truck slowly.

Your eyes scanned the woods on the side of the road making sure there weren't any threats, dead or alive before you focused back on the young girl. Her dark brown hair was tied into a messy braid, which looked to be a few days old. She was wearing three-quarter length jeans, along with dirty pale-yellow singlet and a red jumper tied around her waist. God, she must only be 12-13 years old, where were her parents?

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." You quickly said, realising the girl had pulled out a knife from her belt. "I'm not going to hurt you." You repeated gently, holding your hands up to show her that you mean no harm.

The girl didn't say anything and you didn't really blame her, she must be so terrified and you didn't even want to think of what happened to her parents or the people looking after her.

"My name's Y/N. I want to help you, just put the knife away, okay?" You asked, taking a few steps towards her as she hesitantly put her knife away. "What's your name?"

"Enid." The young girl answered, her voice quiet as she stared at you, but she didn't say anything further.

"Are you alone?" You asked and the girl nodded, but you didn't miss the slight sparkle of tears in her eyes before she quickly rubbed them, clearly not wanting you to see her cry and your heart broke for the young girl. "Do you want to come with me? I don't have much to offer, I have this truck and a little bit of food. But I don't want you to have that knife, I know you want to protect yourself, but I'm not risking anything. You're still a stranger and I don't want a stranger with a knife near my daughter" You said, keeping your voice calm but stern as Enid nodded.

"I don't want any trouble... I-I just... I don't want to be alone." Enid replied softly, holding her knife out towards you by the blade as you grabbed the handle with a nod.

"Come on, you're probably starving." You replied, holding your free hand out as Enid cautiously took it, letting you lead her back to your truck. You opened the passenger side door and pulled out the backpack which you knew had tinned peaches inside. Glancing between the two front seats you spotted your daughter now fast asleep still strapped safely inside her seat.

"Here, careful with the edges, knives don't really make good can openers." You said, handing her the now open tin as you tucked her knife inside the backpack, since you already one and didn't need it. Come to think of it you had a lot of weapons, a hunting knife, the axe and two handguns, but better safe than sorry, especially in this world.

You leant against the side of the truck, watching as Enid quickly ate the tinned fruit and you were starting to wonder when the last time she ate was. How long has she been alone for?

"Here, you need to eat as well." The young girl said holding the half-eaten tin towards you and you smiled sweetly at her.

"It's okay, I had some a few hours ago. You need it." You responded pushing the tin back towards her as she continued eating. It didn't take long before she finished as you tucked the empty tin inside the doors cup holder, surely it would come in handy at some point.

"Jump in, we should keep driving. I don't really have a destination in mind, but I like to keep moving." You commented and Enid nodded as you walked back around to the driver side door and climbed in. Glancing over your shoulder making sure your daughter was still asleep before turning back to Enid as she put her seatbelt on. Huh, you never even thought of putting a seat belt on these days, but you weren't going to say anything.

Starting to the truck you knocked the gearstick into first as you took off, shifting up the gears as the old truck began driving faster. Neither of you spoke for the first few minutes as you focused on the road, you could feel Enid looking over at you frequently, obviously trying to work up the courage to say something, so you stayed quiet not wanting to push her.

"There's a cabin in the woods a few miles out of a town around here... I can't remember what the town was called it started with a 'K' I think." Enid informed, keeping her eyes on the road as she spoke.

"Kapunda?" You asked, knowing there was a town 40 miles north of here called that.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it. My dad was taking us there until..." Enid trailed off as she looked down at her lap, fiddling with her seatbelt.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it. I know where that town is, if we get to the town do you think you can lead me to the cabin?" You asked.

"Yeah, I've been there a few times." Enid answered, but before either of you could say anything further your daughter began to stir in the backseat, babbling to herself. Enid suddenly jumped in surprise as she turned around in pure confusion before she gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock.

"There's a baby. You have a baby. Oh my God." Enid responded as you glanced over at her to find her smiling, her body still turned staring at your baby.

"I did say I had daughter." You chuckled, focusing back on the road as you saw Enid turn back around in her seat out the corner of your eye.

"She's so small, how old is she?"

"Nearly a week." You answered, happy that the girl was finally talking.

"A week? You gave birth to her by yourself? Did you used to be a doctor or something?" Enid asked curiously, glancing over at you as you shook your head.

"I used to be with a group of people. One older woman used to a be a doctor kinda, she helped me." You answered with a sad smile as you thought about Mia. If it wasn't for her you knew for a fact that you wouldn't have been able to make it out of that warehouse.

"What happened to your group?" Enid asked, but by the tone of her voice she was slowly realising that something bad must have happened.

"Our camp got overrun." You simply answered, flashes of that night in the warehouse filling your mind. Images of Johns bloodied body lying on the floor in your tent, the biter attacking Mia, her dying screams filling your ears as you sprinted down the road away from the warehouse. God, so much had happened that night, but your baby was alive and perfectly fine and as selfish as that sounded, that was all that mattered.

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay. The leader of that group wasn't a good man, he deserved it." You replied, not elaborating further on why he wasn't a good man. She didn't need to know about what the man did to the women in your group, she was just a child.

"Did he do that to your face?" Enid asked, motioning towards the long cut along the side of your face and you nodded.

"What's her name?" Enid asked, looking back at your daughter after a few minutes of silence, catching you off guard for a second as you glanced at your baby girl in the revision mirror. With everything that had happened after she was born, you hadn't even thought about names. What should you name her? You asked yourself silently, but without a second thought you knew what you should name her.

"Mia."

-

***6 Months Later***

"Do you want me to burp her while you get ready?" Enid asked walking into the kitchen where you were sitting as you finished breastfeeding Mia. She was still so small, but much bigger than what she was six months ago.

You and Enid had managed to find the cabin her parents had spoken about, it was an old wooden cabin in the middle of the woods, just a few miles out of a town. It was fairly decent with all things considering, with two bedrooms, a lounge room and kitchen in one area and a bathroom.

You and Enid had set up traps around the house, so nobody dead or alive could get to the house without one of you hearing them. You had taught Enid how to shoot a gun and had given her knife back within a week. She was a smart, sweet girl and you trusted her more than you trusted anyone in this new world.

Eventually the young girl began to open up to you, she told you about what happened to her parents; how she had to watch them die while hiding inside a car, only a few days before you found her. She told you about her life before all this, like how she was in school and wanted to be a doctor.

"Thank you." You answered, gently handing your baby to Enid who began burping her. You trusted Enid with Mia, you had taught her a few things about babies, but she already knew a lot since she used to babysit for her next door neighbours. Plus, Mia had quickly grown attached to the young girl and it was good to sometimes hand her over so you could have a few minutes to yourself.

Happy that your daughter was in safe hands, you began making your way towards your bedroom to get ready for your supply run. It had been a few weeks since you last went on a supply run into the town a few miles away, but you guys were running low on canned food, which is what you had started feeding Mia. You still breastfed her every day knowing it was probably the closest thing your baby will have to nutritious since the canned pears and apples had enough preservatives in them to last this long in the apocalypse. But you knew she needed to start eating solid foods and she had taken a liking to the canned pears for some unknown reason, since you literally couldn't think of anything worse, but she seemed to like it.

On your last supply run you had found an old nursey and managed to scavenge a few baby items that were still in good condition. A few toys and even a few reusable diapers that you just had to wash and dry before using again which were a life saver.

It was getting close to the end of winter, but it was still cold, so you grabbed your camo jacket from the end of your bed before clipping on your belt containing your hunting knife and axe before securing both gun holsters around your thighs containing your two handguns. You could never be too careful when out scavenging especially in a town.

"Remember the rules while I'm out?" You asked, walking out of your bedroom and into the lounge room as you sat down on the couch and put your combat boots on.

"Keep the shotgun with me at all times and don't unlock the doors unless it's you." Enid answered, walking over to the couch where you were sitting as she gently placed Mia in the small cot you had set up beside the couch.

"And how do you if it's me and not some stranger?" You asked, glancing over at the young girl.

"You'll call out to me through the walkie before knocking and if it's some stranger than I shoot first and ask questions later." Enid replied holding up the walkie talkie that she had strapped to her belt and you nodded proudly, standing up from the couch as you held your arms out and pulled the young girl into a hug.

"Atta girl. I'll be back in a few hours, alright?" You said, pulling away as Enid nodded before you walked over to Mia's cot, bending over and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

"Be careful." Enid called as you gave her a small soldier solute causing the girl to giggle before you walked out the front door.

-

The only place in this town that you hadn't scavenged yet was the local mall, mainly because it was usually crawling with biters. But within 20 minutes you managed to trap most the biters inside a small jewellery store. At first you were going to trap them inside the clothing shop across the mall, but the jewellery store had stronger metal doors that rolled down, covering the front of the shop so nobody could break in and steal anything which now came in handy for trapping biters.

Once you took care of the remaining biters, you double checked the metal roller door, satisfied that it was going to hold before you began wandering through the small mall. There were a few clothing shops, a pharmacy, a newsagent and a Walmart type store, which is where you decided to go first.

You quickly took care of the four biters that were stumbling around inside with your axe before you grabbed one of the shopping baskets and began walking up and down the aisles. To your surprise there were still a few items left on the dusty shelves and within minutes your shopping basket was full of different canned foods, baby wipes, baby bottles and a few tins of baby formula. All in all, it was a pretty good pick up and you hadn't even checked out the other stores yet.

"I don't like this Rick, where are all the walkers?" A female voice called from somewhere outside causing you to quickly drop your basket of supplies before rushing towards one of the cash registers on the far side of the shop. You knew that would be your best place to hide which also had a view of the whole store and part of the mall.

"Just keep an eye out, we need to bring at least some food home for everyone." A man responded who you assumed was Rick. Shit, so there were at least two of them and by the sound of it they had more people back at their camp, wherever that was.

You pulled out your desert eagle from your right thigh holster, knowing it was more powerful than the Glock 18 you had strapped to your other thigh. You could hear the people getting closer, although they weren't talking anymore as you listened to their heavy footsteps as they stepped over the broken glass by the front door to the mall.

You were crouched down behind one of the desks were a cash register was, you knew if those people decided to scavenge this store then they wouldn't bother looking behind the cashiers desk, so hopefully you could wait them out and wait for them to leave.

You didn't want to risk being spotted so you forced yourself not to peak out over the desk to try see them. But by the sound of their footsteps and their silent whistles to each other you could say there were roughly three of them.

"Hey, you guys might wanna look at this!" The woman shouted, from the other side of the food store and you cursed under your breath, realising that she probably found your basket of food.

"Must be our lucky day, Judith is going to love this. Keep looking, there's gotta me more stuff we could use here." The Rick guy replied, his voice suddenly a lot closer than he was a few minutes ago as you silently pulled the hammer back on your handgun, holding it in front of you.

This wasn't the first time you've come across people while scavenging in the town, but it was the first time that there were more than one person and despite how good you were with a gun, you knew you couldn't beat three people. So you stayed behind the desk and stayed quiet.

"Guys, come help me with this roller door." Rick shouted and you frowned in confusion. What roller door? It was a mall not some kind of car garage, what were they- Oh shit, the jewellery store.

Without thinking you quickly stood up from behind the desk, your eyes flying towards the jewellery store on the other side of the mall to find the three people trying to lift the roller door up. For a split second you debated whether or not to warn them, but you quickly realised that if you let them open the door up then the biters would come after you as well.

But, during your small internal debate you realised they had already opened the door. You watched from behind the desk for a few seconds as the biters spilled out the shop towards them. A woman with dreadlocks and a katana frantically killing the biters while two of the men had already given up with their knifes and began firing their guns. One was a young Asian man and the other seemed to be a bit older, sporting a five o'clock shadow along his jaw and you had a feeling he must be Rick.

There were too many of the dead, there had to be nearly 40 inside the shop when you trapped them and even with three of them, they didn't stand a chance.

"Shit." You sighed, knowing if you didn't help them then they were as good as dead, but then if you did help them you were exposing yourself and who's to say these people are good?

You pulled out your other handgun and cocked it before jumping over the desk as you began firing at the biters that were seconds away from taking down the Asian man and katana woman.

You saw all three of them freeze as your bullets continued piercing through the skulls of the biters around them, their eyes on you in shock. And thank you Dixon brothers for taking you out in the woods and teaching you how to a shoot a gun when you were younger.

A second later they all snapped out of it and focused their attention on the biters, rather than you and after a couple minutes of fighting the last biter dropped to the ground and you sighed with relief. You had run out of ammo pretty quickly, both your handguns already back in their holsters from when you swapped to your axe.

"I trapped those biters inside the shop for a reason, but I guess letting them out and nearly getting yourselves killed works too." You stated, glancing around at all the dead corpses scattered on the floor before you bought your attention towards the three people standing a few metres away from you. The woman seemed to dismiss you as a threat since her katana was now put away, along with the Asian man who had his knife tucked back into his belt. However, the Rick guy didn't seem to careful, his hand resting over his gun holster as he stared at you.

"You trapped them in there? Just you?" He asked, clearly not believing a word you just said causing you to roll your eyes.

"What, just because I'm a girl you think I can't do it?" You asked, but you knew he probably didn't mean it in a sexist way, you just couldn't help but ask.

"I like her." The sword lady responded unable to hide her chuckle causing the Rick guy to glare at her.

"After what you just did, I have no doubt that you trapped those walkers. I'm Rick, this is Glenn and Michonne. Do you have a group?" Rick asked and you shook your head, taking a metal note of the others names. So they called the dead 'walkers' that was actually quite fitting.

"I'm Y/N. Now I'm just gonna take the basket I filled up earlier and go." You said motioning towards the basket on the ground a few metres away.

"No. We need that stuff, why would you want baby formula anyway?" Michonne questioned in confusion and you sighed realising that your cover was blown, they knew you weren't alone.

"How many walkers have you killed?" Rick suddenly asked, not waiting for you to answer the woman's question.

"We're meant to keep count? I don't know, a lot." You replied, glancing between the three of them, your axe still in your hand for safety.

"How many people have you killed?" He asked and you froze, your heartbeat increasing as thought of that night with your old group.

"One."

"Why?"

"He deserved it. Tried raping my friend, tried to kill me too." You answered, motioning towards the deep scar along the side of your face. It had healed up nicely and never got infected, but it left a nasty scar and you knew it stood out very clearly.

"How many are in your group?" Glenn asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Three." You replied, knowing there was no point trying to lie about it. If these people wanted to kill you, then they would have done it already. You watched them cautiously as Rick turned around to Glenn and Michonne who both seemed to nod at whatever Rick was thinking before he turned back towards you.

"We have a community. There's a lot of us now after we took in people from a town called Woodbury, we have rules and everyone has jobs to keep everything in order, but it's safe. You and your other two friends, one of which is probably baby since you want that basket, can come back with us." Rick explained and it took you a few seconds to process everything he just said. He had a community with walls and everything? No walkers could get in? That sounded too good to be true.

"Fine, but I want half of the stuff in the basket though." You responded, after a few minutes and Rick nodded in agreement. Well this was either going to be a really good idea or really bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said above the timeline is slightly different in this fic since Enid is appearing during the prison era and not Alexandria, but other than that everything else follows the shows timeline. 
> 
> Sorry for the late chapter, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you did please let me know in the comments below, it makes my day knowing you guys like what I’m writing. Anyway, until next time stay safe guys and have a great day xx


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Rick pulled their car up to the front of your cabin, you spotted two backpacks already sitting on the front porch that Enid had gotten ready. You had explained everything to her over your walkie talkie and told the young girl to pack your stuff, she seemed happy to join a community and knew that you wouldn't be joining them unless you were 100 percent sure it was safe.

"That you guys in the car?" Enid's voice called over the walkie talkie and you smiled proudly.

"Yeah, it's us." You replied as you opened up your car door, the others following your lead as you began to walk towards the cabin as Enid opened the door. The pump-action shotgun still in her hands as you gave her nod before she slung it over her shoulder and glanced towards Rick, Glenn and Michonne who were standing behind you.

You quickly introduced everyone before Enid grabbed the two bags dismissing Glenns attempt at helping her carry them back to their car as Michonne followed, leaving you and Rick on the front porch as a baby began crying from inside.

"I guess Mia is awake." You stated as you walked into the cabin, Rick following you cautiously and you didn't blame him, you could never be too careful in this world.

You walked into the lounge room, spotting your baby girl sitting up inside her cot, her cries instantly dying down once she saw you and you smiled. She had just started to learn how to sit up by herself and you were excited yet dreading the day she learns how to crawl and walk.

"Hey, baby girl." You said softly, reaching into the cot to pick her up before you turned back around at Rick as he smiled sweetly, staring at your daughter.

"We have a spare baby cot back at the prison, that's where out community is. You and your daughters will be safe there." Rick said after a few seconds, catching you off guard as you shook your head.

"Enid isn't my daughter. I... umm.. I'm responsible for her, she's like a little sister to me." You tried explaining and Rick nodded in understanding

"Her father, is he here?" Rick asked nodding towards your baby in your arms as you shook your head.

"No, I don't even know if he's still alive. We weren't together when the dead started walking." You answered, thinking back to the last time you actually saw Daryl over a year ago. "Anyway, I think I got everything, ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's go." Rick replied as the two of you began walking back out the cabin, to find Enid talking with Glenn and Michonne and you smiled noticing all three of them laughing and smiling.

-

You sat in the backseat between Enid and Michonne while Rick drove with Glenn in the passenger seat. Glenn and Michonne had asked a few questions about your daughter who was sitting on your lap making quiet cooing noises.

"Holy... No wonder no walkers get in." You commented staring through the car window as the tall wire fences of the prison came into view. There were walkers pressed up against the fence, but they couldn't get through. You spotted a person standing in some kind of watch tower as another person quickly opened the gate so you guys could drive through.

There were some kind of animal pens inside the field in front of the prison along with a bunch of crops, however what caught your attention was the prison courtyard, they had metal picnic tables and benches set up under make shift shelters. There were people walking around, eating and talking amongst themselves. This really was a community.

Rick drove the car slowly around to the side of the prison courtyard, parking beside a few other vehicles they had parked there before you all climbed out. Rick and Glenn grabbing your bags out the boot as Enid stayed close to you and you knew she was nervous.

"We'll show you were you guys can stay, everyone has their own cell." Rick explained as you, Enid and Glenn followed him towards the door that lead into the prison. Michonne had stopped to talk to a few people who were all eyeing you guys carefully.

Rick had allowed you both to have your own cell, but Enid didn't want to be away from you so you took the cell with the bunkbeds. A woman named Carol had introduced herself and helped the two of you settle in while Rick had to deal with something. She explained to you that there was a council consisting of Hershel, Sasha, Glenn, Daryl, Rick and herself. Your body stiffened at the mention of the name, Daryl. And you sighed knowing you wouldn't be able to talk to the poor guy named Daryl without thinking about your Daryl.

Sasha, Carl, Hershel and his two daughters Maggie and Beth had introduced themselves to you, all of them shocked that you had a baby as well. Carol told you that they had a group out on a week long supply run and said she'd introduce you to them once they got back and you were looking forward to meeting the rest of the group.

Beth, Carl and Enid hit it off immediately and you were glad the young girl was starting to make friends and finally had kids her age to play with.

It was late afternoon by the time Rick reappeared inside the cellblock. You and Enid's cell was at the far end of the room, Carol had helped you set up the spare cot inside the cell as well. You were busy unpacking your gear and setting up your sleeping bags on the two beds. Enid, Carl and Beth were sitting on a blanket outside the cells with Mia and Judith. You trusted Enid with your daughter, but you kept an eye on them since you only just met the other two kids a few hours ago.

"Hey, looks like you met my kids." Rick's voice suddenly said causing you to jump in surprise before turning around to find him standing in the door to your cell, glancing over at the kids behind him. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah, Carl's a nice kid, him and Beth seem to be getting along with Enid, it's good to see her around other kids." You replied, glancing over Rick's shoulder towards the kids on the ground outside the cell with a smile.

"Judith and Mia seem to like each others company too." Rick joked and you smiled looking at your daughter in Enid's lap who was playing with Judith's feet as she sat in Carl's lap and you chuckled. "So, did Carol get you set up?"

"Yeah, she showed us around the prison as well, the kitchen area and showers and all that. I met most of your 'original group' as Carol referred to you as and a few other people who I'm assuming were from that Woodbury town you said earlier." You replied and Rick nodded.

-

The first few days at the prison were nice, everyone was welcoming and friendly towards you and Enid and they were all thrilled that there was another baby, nobody ever thought they'd see a baby again until Judith and now Mia.

Rick explained to you that everyone had designated jobs, he told you that most the woman helped out with laundry, dishes and food, but he quickly added that you didn't seem like most women and said that there were other jobs you might rather like fence duty which was basically just killing walkers through the fence with metal pipes or watch duty up in the guard towers. You ended up being added to the fence duty roster and the occasional watch duty, saying that you were happy to do more than one thing and Rick was grateful for that

_The next week went by in a blur. You hadn't seen or heard from Daryl since that night. You were hoping that once the alcohol was out of his system then he'd come to senses and at least have a proper conversation with you about it, but of course that didn't happen. You tried calling his work, asking if he was there, but every time you did his boss said he wasn't around. You even tried knocking on Merle's door, but nobody answered._

_During the following few days you got wind from some of Merle's old buddies that him and Daryl had taken a little road trip, something about needing to get of town for a bit, but that was all they knew._

_Over the next few months you tried moving on with life like normal, waiting and hoping for Daryl to show up and say he was sorry. You had gone to the doctors and had a few tests to make sure the baby was okay and everything, they had told you that everything seemed to going perfectly, except it wasn't perfect because Daryl wasn't there with you._

_It wasn't until five months later, when you were six months pregnant that a Dixon brother walked through the front door of the bar._

_The bar had been fairly quiet since it was only a Tuesday night. There were a few guys playing pool to the far right of the room while a group of women sat in one of the booths to the left enjoying a few drinks after work._

_You were busy drying a few glasses behind the bar when the front door opened and you looked up spotting, Merle Dixon walking into the room. You froze for a few seconds hoping Daryl would walk in after him, but Merle must have know what you were thinking as he shook his head slightly indicating that his younger brother wasn't with him._

_"Long time, no see, darlin'." Merle called, walking towards you as you leant your forearms against the bar waiting for him to pull up a seat on one of the stools._

_"Where's Daryl? Is he finally back?" You asked, a hint of hope fluttering in your stomach as you watched the older brother sit down._

_"Nah, I just came back for my motorcycle, figured I'd get a drink from the best bar in town before I head back." Merle answered as the small ray of hope you just had vanished into thin air._

_"Head back where?"_

_"I can't tell ya that. Promised Daryl I wouldn't." Merle replied and you sighed. There was no point trying to get it out of him, if there was one thing you knew about Merle Dixon was that he always kept any promise he made. "Can I get a glass of whatever beer ya got on tap?"_

_"Yeah, Corona alright?" You asked and Merle nodded as you pushed yourself away from the bar, turning around to grab a clean glass. But as you turned back towards the bar to pour his drink you found Merle staring at you shock, but he wasn't staring at your face he was staring at your stomach._

_You quickly looked down thinking you had something on your shirt before your eyes caught sight of your very obvious baby bump under your work uniform and it clicked. Merle didn't know about the baby._

_"Wait, you're pregnant? Shit, does Daryl even know?" Merle asked and you nodded as you began pouring his beer._

_"It's the reason he left." You sighed, placing the glass down in front of him and to your surprise he doesn't grab it straight away as he continued to stare at you, trying to process this new information._

_"No wonder he's been so goddamn miserable. He told me you guys had a serious fight, that he said a lot of shit he shouldn't have and that he needed to get out of town for a bit. So, we've been just traveling around Georgia for the past few months, but he never told me the reason behind the fight... It was about you being pregnant wasn't it?" Merle asked and you nodded, dropping your head forcing the tears in your eyes back down. You were not going to start crying in front of Merle, not here. "Shit." Merle sighed, finally grabbing his beer and taking a sip._

_"Ya know he still loves ya right? Hasn't shut up about ya in the past five months." Merle began saying before you shook your head._

_"If that was true then he would be here with me, with us." You replied, resting your hand over your baby bump, but before you could say anything further another customer began talking._

_"Hey, Y/N, can you turn the tv up a bit?" One of the guys by the pool table asked and you frowned in confusion. They never wanted to turn the television up unless the football was on, but it wasn't, it was some kind of breaking news._

_You quickly grabbed the television remote from the top draw and began turning the volume up as Merle spun around on this chair wanting to know what all the fuss was about._

_'A deadly virus has broken out in Russia, residents are being told to stay indoors as the virus is now spreading across Europe. We have not been told what the virus actually is, but it seems like anyone who gets infected by it goes crazy almost cannibalistic. We'll update you on any further information once we hear it.' The news report informed before the television turned back to whatever show was on before the breaking news took over._

_"Well thank fuck we don't live in Asia." Merle muttered, turning back around towards the bar as he skulled the last of his beer before focusing back on you. "I can't break my promise to my brother and tell ya where he is, I just can't. But, I will try get him to talk to ya. He loves ya Y/N, you're the best thing that ever happened to him... He just ain't thinking straight."_

_"Thank you, Merle." You replied as the older Dixon jumped over the bar, surprising you slightly as he pulled you into a gentle hug._

_"Ya might not be married or nothing, but you're still a Dixon and us Dixon's look out for each other, especially now that you're carrying the future." Merle said as you pulled away giving him a grateful smile before he walked out the bar._

_Although little did Merle know, you and Daryl actually were married. You never had a ceremony or anything, you just got the papers signed and went away for the weekend, both of you getting the time off work to enjoy a small holiday like a mini honeymoon. He had proposed to you with a ring which was apparently his mothers, one of the only things he had left of her. Apparently, Merle had gotten his hands on it before their father could find it and sell it for alcohol money and somehow Daryl had managed to get it from Merle._

_You knew Merle would talk to Daryl, but you doubted it would make much of a difference and you were right because he never showed up._

_Once the outbreak hit America, you locked yourself in the trailer to get away from the biters. But slowly your food began to run out you knew you couldn't stay in the trailer and wait for Daryl to come, it was clear he wasn't coming._

_You left a note on the kitchen bench, in the mere chance that Daryl might come back to the trailer and stapled a small ultrasound photo of your baby to the front of the letter. You doubted he would ever come back, that the letter would be a waste, but for some stupid reason you still had hope that Daryl would find his way back home, back to you._

-

Over the course of the week you and Enid had started settling into life at the prison. Enid, Carl and Beth quickly became best friends and you tended to stick with Rick, Michonne, Carol, Maggie and Glenn more than the other people, but that was mainly because they were always around you and doing the jobs you were usually doing.

Mia was slowly getting used to being around so many people, but she still only let you or Enid hold and feed her, she wasn't good with new people yet. But that was okay, you and Enid were all Mia needed, whenever you had a shift along the fence or in the watch tower Enid would look after her and once you finished you would take her and let Enid go off and do whatever kids did these days.

"Yo, Y/N?" Glenn's voice called as he climbed up the stairs leading to the watch tower where you were standing, leaning against the railings as your eyes scanned the prison fences. The sun was just starting to set over the treetops, spraying the sky all different shades of orange as you took in the scenery.

"My shift over already?" You asked, glancing over your shoulder as Glenn walked onto the platform with a nod. You liked the young man, he was funny and was always offering to help wherever he could, and you adored his relationship with Maggie, they were really cute together.

"Have the others come back from their supply trip yet?" He asked as you handed him the 22. Sniper rifle that Rick had kept in the tower for watch duties.

"Not yet, Carol said they should be back soon though. Enjoy the sunset." You replied, giving him a friendly smile before you began exiting the watch tower. You barely made it halfway across the courtyard before Rick called out your name.

"What's up?" You asked, turning around as the man jogged towards you.

"I hate to ask this, but can you take the morning shift on the fence tomorrow?" He asked, running his fingers through his locks as he stared at you with an apologetic expression and you chuckled.

"Of course, I-" You began to reply before you stopped midsentence, your body tensing at the sound of a motorcycle ripping through the air. God, that sounded so much like Merle's old bike, why does everything around here have to remind you of the Dixon brothers?

"It's alright, that's our guys back from the supply run, the one on the motorcycle is like a brother to me, I think you guys will get along." Rick explained, noticing you had stopped walking when you heard the motorcycle.

"So, how long have you guys been here at the Prison?" You asked, trying to change the topic, not wanting to think about the Dixons. God, you missed the brothers, despite everything they had done and a part of you wished that motorcycle in the background somewhere was actually Merle and Daryl.

"Nearly a year." Rick answered as he began talking a bit more about the prison before his eyes glanced at someone walking up behind you and he stopped what he was saying so he could introduce you guys.

You turned around, to see the person Rick referred as a brother and your heart literally stopped when you saw who was standing in front of you. Daryl fucking Dixon.

His hair was a little longer and darker than what it used to be, and he still sported his usual leather vest which you knew had angel wings on the back of it, along with his crossbow that was slung over his shoulder, but it was definitely him. 

He was walking towards the two of you, but as soon as he lifted his head about to greet Rick he froze, his eyes going wide as he stared at you in pure shock.

A million thoughts and emotions flooded through your body as you saw the man you used to love standing a few metres away from you and right then and there you knew you stilled loved him. But, then you remembered what he did to you, how he left you after you told him you were pregnant, how he got drunk and came back home and yelled at you to have an abortion and how he just packed up and left with Merle, leaving you alone, scared and carrying his baby. God, you hated him, but you stilled loved him and you had no idea what to do.

"Daryl, this is-" Rick began to introduce before Daryl cut him off.

"Y/N?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well they have finally been reunited and let’s just say the next chapter gets pretty intense. 
> 
> I hope you all are enjoying this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Sorry for the cliff hanger, but hopefully next chapter will be worth the wait. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


	5. Chapter 5

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Rick questioned from beside you, but you barely heard him as you stared at Daryl, a hint of sorrow flashing across his face which only angered you further. He did not get to feel sorry, he made his decision, he didn't get to feel sorry about it now.

You watched as Daryl took a step towards you, clearly about to say something, but you shook your head. Your hand balling into a fist by your side and before you even thought twice about it, you slammed your fist into the side of his face, punching him.

"Whoa. No, Y/N." Rick suddenly yelled, grabbing your shoulders to stop you from punching Daryl again who stumbled back a few steps from the sudden blow, but he didn't show any anger towards you as he continued to stare at you in guilt.

"Let go of me!" You yelled, trashing out of Ricks hold as you took a few steps away from the two men, your eyes never leaving Daryl's.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry." Daryl began to say, but you quickly shook your head not wanting to hear his excuses or how sorry he was because you knew you'd cave in and forgive him, you could never stay angry at Daryl, even if you hated him for what he did.

"You think you can just say sorry and everything's going to be okay? That you can just suddenly show up and we'll go back to how things used to be? Like you didn't drive a stake through my fucking heart when you left?!" You yelled, taking a step towards him as Rick took a step back knowing the two of you needed to figure out whatever the hell this was.

"I know, I know. I was an asshole 'n I know I can't make it right, but I want ya to know I'm really sorry. God, Y/N, m'sorry for what I did." Daryl apologised, his voice wavering at the end and you felt your heartbreak hearing it. God, you just wanted to wrap him up in a hug and let him hold you, but at the same time you couldn't just simply forgive him for he had done.

"You destroyed me. I waited for you, Daryl. I waited for you every day, but you never came back! Merle even came back for crying out loud, but you didn't! You didn't even come looking for me when the dead started walking. I was alone and pregnant!" You shouted, tears now clouding your vision as you stared at Daryl.

You closed your eyes taking a few deep breaths trying to calm yourself before you continued speaking. "I'm glad you're still alive, Dixon, I really am. But I can't do this, I can't do this." You mumbled, shaking your head unable to stop the tears from falling down your cheeks as you quickly walked back towards the prison, not bothering to wait for Daryl's reply.

You kept your head down as you walked through the kitchen area, not wanting anyone to see you like this. You heard Carol call out to you from one of the picnic tables where a group of people were eating tea, but you ignored her as you walked into the cellblock. The kids were sitting on a blanket outside the cells with Mia and Judith in their laps as you walked passed them towards your cell.

"Y/N?" Enid's voice called, but you didn't respond as you walked into your cell, pulling the makeshift curtain across so nobody could see you as you collapsed onto the bed. You leant back against the cement wall as you hugged your knees to your chest, unable to stop the tears from falling down your cheeks.

"Y/N? Oh my God, what happened? Are you hurt?" Enid's frantic voice questioned as she rushed into the cell, spotting you on sitting on the bed. "Y/N? Talk to me, what's wrong?" She asked, panic evident in her tone as she knelt down in front the bed, her hands grabbing yours and you didn't even realise you were shaking until she squeezed your hands gently to calm you down.

"Do you want me to get someone? Carol? Rick?" Enid asked, but you quickly shook your head, Rick was with Daryl and you didn't... you couldn't see him right now. Not yet.

"Where's Mia?" You asked, your voice barely above a whisper as you lifted your head to look at the young girl.

"She's with Carl and Beth, she's safe. Now what happened?" Enid asked, her hands still around yours and you sighed.

"Daryl's here. I never thought I'd see him again, but he's here and I don't know what to do." You explained, resting your head back against the cement wall behind you as Enid looked at you in confusion. "Daryl, he's my husband. He's Mia's father." You added and realisation flashed across the young girls face as she began putting the pieces together. You had told her a bit about your life before all of this, but she didn't know every detail.

"We can leave. We can go back to the cabin, we were doing okay there before." Enid began to say, but you shook your head.

You appreciated what she was trying to do, but you'd be stupid if you left the prison. They had food, shelter, walls, showers, supplies, you name it, you couldn't just give all this up. Enid and Mia deserved a safe place to call home, they deserved to grow up around other children and have somewhat of a normal childhood. They needed this prison, you couldn't walk away even though that's all you wanted to do.

-

***Meanwhile***

"Y/N!" Daryl shouted, watching as she began walking off back into the prison, but before he could even take a step in her direction to follow her, Rick suddenly grabbed his shoulders, stopping him.

"Don't." Rick warned causing Daryl to freeze as he snapped his head towards his best friend in a mixture of anger and confusion. "I found her while out on a supply run a week ago. I didn't know you guys had history, but she's upset and confused, so let her be alone for a while." Rick added and Daryl sighed, knowing his brother was right. Neither of them spoke for a few seconds as Daryl looked back towards the prison, but she was already gone.

"I love her, but I fucked up big time with her, Rick." Daryl finally said, tears threatening to spill from his eyes as he slowly began to process the fact that she was alive and here. "I don't know what to do."

"Hey, whatever happened between you guys is between you guys, but what I just saw was a woman who still very obviously cares about you, despite whatever happened." Rick replied, grabbing Daryl's shoulder to try comfort the man as he sighed.

"She should hate me. Hell, even Merle hated me for a while when he found out."

"Love is stronger than you might think. When I found out about Lori and Shane, I wanted to hate her for moving on so quick and for a while I think I did, but I still loved her and eventually that hate disappeared, but I never got the chance to tell her. Don't you waste this opportunity, it seems fate is trying to give you guys a second chance." Rick explained, shocking Daryl slightly, not expecting the man to go full wisdom on him like that, but he knew what Rick was trying to say.

"I don't deserve a second chance, she deserves better than me." Daryl muttered, shaking his head at himself.

"Let her be the judge of that." Rick replied, squeezing his shoulder slightly as Daryl nodded, glancing up to meet Rick's eyes. "Maybe leave her for tonight though, she only just got here. All of this is new to her, the walls, safety, the people and seeing you clearly struck a nerve. Come on, let's go into the main room and have some tea." Rick said and Daryl nodded as he followed Rick towards the prison.

-

"Come sit with us." Carl called, motioning towards a young girl who Daryl had never seen before. He was in the main area with the group, sitting at his usual table with Rick, Michonne, Carol, Carl and Judith. He was sure he had never seen the girl before, if she was one of the Woodbury citizens that Rick had taken in all those months ago he would have recognised her.

"Thank you for the food, Carol." The young girl said with a shy smile as she sat down beside Carl and began eating the stew.

"You don't have to thank me every night, Enid, it's my pleasure. Where's Y/N?" Carol asked, between mouthfuls of food as Daryl's head snapped up towards the young girl sitting opposite him. She knew Y/N, how?

"How do ya know Y/N?" He asked, staring at the young girl as he felt Rick nudge him slightly, but he needed to know how the girl knew her.

"She saved me, taught me how to fight and protect myself. Y/N kept me safe, despite having to look after Mia as well." Enid explained, glancing over at Daryl before she continued eating. But, now he was even more confused, so Y/N had found this girl and another girl while on the road?

"Who's Mia?" Daryl asked, grabbing the water bottle Rick had sitting on the table in front of him before focusing back on Enid. She would have had to be around Carl's age, no wonder Y/N helped her, Y/N always had a soft spot for kids.

"Mia is her six-month-old daughter." Enid answered and Daryl just about choked on the water as he stared at the girl in utter shock. Y/N never mentioned the baby, he assumed she didn't have it or something had happened, but she had the baby? She kept the baby and the baby is still alive? He had a daughter... holy shit he had a daughter. "Wait, you're Daryl, aren't you?" The kid asked her voice turning from sweet to angry in a flash, but Daryl didn't reply as he quickly stood up. He had to see Y/N, he had to see his daughter.

"Daryl, that's a bad idea." Rick warned, quickly standing up from the table, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from racing off into the cellblock.

"She's my wife, that's my daughter... I-I gotta talk to her." Daryl stuttered, not bothering to turn back to Rick as he tried walking away but the man gripped his shoulder tighter not letting him go.

"Don't do this, brother. You're not thinking straight." Rick hissed, removing his hand as he walked around Daryl and stood in front him, but the other man lowered his head not wanting to meet Ricks gaze. "Daryl." Rick said again as he took in a few deep breaths.

"Fine. I'll be in the watch tower if anyone wants me. Can ya give Y/N some food? I don't want her missin' out on tea 'cause she's tryin' to avoid me." Daryl said after a few seconds, his voice calmer now despite every bone in his body telling him to just ignore Rick and run after her.

"Of course." Rick replied, grabbing Daryl's shoulder gently with a small squeeze before the other man picked up his crossbow that was leaning against the table and walked out the door.

-

He wasn't sure how long he stayed up in the watch tower for. He thought being up there and doing something would keep his mind off Y/N, but there was literally nothing to do but stand around on the platform with nothing but his own thoughts as he kept watched over the prison fences and field.

He had a daughter. Y/N gave birth to his daughter during all of this and had to look after both the baby, Enid and herself in this screwed up world. He should have been there for her, he should have never left the night she told him she was pregnant. He should have never gone to the bar and had those drinks. He should have never come home drunk and yelled at Y/N... he couldn't even remember half the things he said to her, but he could remember some of it and he hated himself so much for it. He should have never left town with Merle and spend the next seven months feeling sorry for himself, he should have manned up and went back to her, but he didn't. He knew she hated him, well he didn't know, but if he was her than he would hate himself for everything he had put her through and he didn't blame her for not wanting to see him now.

He was taken away from his thoughts by the sound of the prison door opening and closing as he walked around the other side of the watch tower so he had clear view of the courtyard. He scanned the area curiously trying to see who it was that was awake at this hour. He didn't really give a shit who it was, but it was something to keep his mind occupied.

It was dark outside, the moon barely a sliver in the sky so he couldn't see much, but he heard the person before he saw them or so to speak he heard the baby before he saw them. At first he thought it was Beth or Rick with Judith, getting her out of the cellblock so she didn't wake up everyone while they tried to get her to sleep. But suddenly a small lantern was turned on and placed on one of the picnic tables, lighting up a small area of the courtyard and Daryl froze.

It was hard to see properly from the dim light and the distance from the watch tower but he knew that woman's figure and movements from a mile away. It was Y/N and she was holding a baby, she was holding his baby.

For a split second he thought about looking through the rifle scope to see her and the baby properly, but he quickly kicked himself for even thinking of such a stupid idea. No way would he ever aim a gun in her direction, even if the chamber was empty and the safety was on. So, he just rested his elbows along the platform railings, knowing full well that she couldn't see him from there as he watched her slowly rock the baby in her arms.

His heart ached watching her with the baby, how gentle and calm she was despite the little baby continuously crying in her arms. He was sure that the noise would get annoying eventually, but it was like music to his ears right now and it was the closest he would get to seeing his daughter for a while, knowing full well Y/N wouldn't let him near her after what he had done.

"Shhh, it's alright sweetheart. I fed you not that long ago, why are you crying?" He heard Y/N ask and he could hear the tiredness in her voice, realising that the baby must have woken her up. How had she even raised a baby out there? Did she have a camp with walls? How'd she keep the walkers from hearing the babies cries? He had so many questions, but he knew better than to go down and talk to her.

After a few minutes the baby seemed to settle down as Y/N slowly walked around the courtyard, rocking the baby in her arms and he was about to walk back to the other side of the watch tower and give them some privacy. It was probably really creepy of him to watch the two of them without them knowing. But just as he began to turn around, her voice filled the still night air, but she wasn't talking, she was singing. He had never heard her sing before, sure he had heard her jamming out to AC/DC in the truck with him some nights, but this was different, this was soft, sweet, almost emotional as he stood with his back to her direction as he listened to her voice.

 _"I have died everyday waiting for you_  
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you  
For a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more

 _And all along I believed I would find you_  
Time has bought your heart to me  
I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more..."

"What do I do Mia? For so long I waited for him, even after the dead started to rise, I was still hoping that he would just somehow find me, find us and everything would be okay... but he never did and then everything else happened and I hate him, but I love him, I still love him and I don't know what to do..." She trailed off and Daryl could hear the tears in her voice as he turned around, spotting her standing by the lantern wiping the tears from her eyes, while holding a now sleeping baby in her other hand.

He was the reason for those tears, he was the reason for all her pain, it was all on him. It was all his fault.

_"Daryl!" Merle's voice shouted from outside their motel room, waking him up in an instant as he shot_ _out of_ _bed in confusion. He glanced over at the digital clock on the nightstand to find it was only six in the morning. Why was Merle back already? Wasn't he going to stay a night back home in his trailer before bringing his motorcycle to the motel?_

_"Merle, why ya home so early I thought-" Daryl began to ask as he opened the front door to their motel room to be met by Merle's fist connecting to his jaw, sending him on his ass in an instant. "What-" Daryl began to say, but his brother cut him off._

_"Ya knocked Y/N up and ya just left her! Thought I raised ya better than that." Merle shouted, looking down at him as he held his already bruising jaw in complete shock_ _. He_ _figured Merle would bump into Y/N while back in town, but he didn't expect Merle to react like this when he found out._

_"Ya didn't raise me." Daryl snapped, trying anything to avoid the topic about Y/N, even if he ended up starting an argument with his brother, it was still better than addressing the other topic._

_"Like hell I didn't. I looked after ya more than our old man ever did. Don't try change the damn subject. That girl was the best thing to ever happen to ya and don't try deny it. She stuck by ya through all the shit, she stayed with ya despite being a good for nothing Dixon and you and I both know Dixon's don't get girls like that, but ya did. You've been with her since fucking high school! I know ya baby brother and ya will regret it if ya don't go back to her." Merle said, looking down at his brother who was still sitting on the ground, but he didn't miss the tears in his eyes before he quickly wiped them away._

_"I screwed up, Merle, the things I said to her that night. She would hate me, she deserves better. She deserves someone who could give her more than a scrappy old trailer 'n a rusty old pick-up truck that doesn't even start half the damn time. She deserves more than what I can give her. Ya said it yourself, we're nothin' but good for nothin' Dixons, I'd end up just like our old man 'n I ain't putting Y/N or that baby through what he did to us." Daryl replied, unable to stop the tears from falling down his face as he shook his head. "I can't put her through that, she deserves better than me, man. I ain't goin' back."_

_Merle didn't say anything for a few seconds as he stared at his brother crying silently on the floor, reminding him of too many times from when they were kids and he'd find his little brother crying in his room after a beating his father gave_ _him_ _._

_Usually he would have told him to toughen up, that he should stop being such a pussy, but for just this once he figured he should actually play the proper big brother card._

_"I ain't gonna tell ya what to do, little brother. If ya wanna keep travelin' 'round the state then that is what we're gonna do, but Y/N loves ya man, there ain't no denying that." Merle said as he crouched down beside his brother who ducked his head trying to hide his tears and Merle sighed, grabbing the younger mans shoulder._

_"I can't go back." Daryl whispered, glancing up at his older brother who simply just nodded and neither of them spoke about it again._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are enjoying this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


	6. Chapter 6

It was easy enough for you to avoid Daryl over the next few days. You were up during the middle of most nights with Mia, who for some reason just wouldn't stop crying lately. You had a sneaking suspicion that she could sense your sudden change in emotion, but there was nothing you could do about that.

You had seen Daryl around the prison, but you made sure to have some kind of excuse to leave the room or cellblock when he'd walk in so you didn't have to talk and doing that killed you. Just seeing Daryl across the courtyard or up in one of the watch towers made your heart break. You missed him. You missed him so damn much that it took everything in you to not give in and run back to him.

It's been three days since you found out that Daryl was at the prison, three days since you had walked away from him and you hadn't so much as said a single word to him since. How could you? He couldn't just expect things to go back to normal, he left. He just left and that's on him, not you. 

You tried to focus on the walkers staring at you through the prison fence. You tried to focus on slamming the end of the metal rod into their brains. You tried to focus on anything other Daryl, who you knew was out in the courtyard cleaning Merle's old motorcycle.

You weren't sure what happened to the older Dixon, but you knew Daryl wouldn't go anywhere without his brother which meant only one thing; Merle was dead. You wondered how it happened, whether it was to a walker or something else, but either way you hoped it was quick and painless. You hoped Daryl didn't have to witness it either, nobody should ever have to witness something like that.

You were so focused on the walkers in front of you, that you didn't even hear Maggie walking up to you until she grabbed your shoulder. You quickly spun around, holding the metal rod up ready to take out the threat causing Maggie to jump back with her hands up.

"Shit, sorry." You apologised lowering the pipe as Maggie chuckled with a friendly smile.

"I'm here to swap with you, Enid said you've been out here since daybreak, go inside and get something to eat and rest." Maggie said, holding her hand out for the metal rod. Your first instinct was to argue with her and say that you were fine, but now that she mentioned it you were actually pretty exhausted and hungry since you skipped breakfast.

"Alright, thanks Maggie." You replied handing her the rod as you glanced at the few walkers still on the other side of the fence before you began walking back towards the courtyard. There were a few people walking around outside enjoying the nice day, others were working in the garden beds and crops in the field.

"Y/N, I know I don't deserve your time, but can we talk?" Daryl's voice called out from behind you somewhere and you sighed just about the reach the prison door as you stopped and turned to face him. He was jogging over to you, tucking his red rag into his back pocket that he was using to clean the bike with.

"No." You simply replied, not trusting yourself to say more than a few words to him as you stared at his pleading eyes and you sighed. You never could say no to him, even before all of this.

"Everything good out here?" Rick suddenly asked, walking out the prison door, his eyes glancing between the two of you with uncertainty before you both nodded. Rick continued walking, occasionally glancing back towards you guys like he was almost worried that you were going to start fighting or something.

"What do you want?" You asked, turning away from Rick to find Daryl now standing a few metres in front of you as he shoved his hands into his pockets nervously.

"I know I screwed up 'n there's no do overs. But I've had a lot of time to think 'bout things 'n I feel like shit for what I did to ya..." Daryl began to say, his eyes casted down at your feet not wanting to look you in the eyes which was probably for the best because you knew once you looked into those crystal blue eyes then you were done for. "Ya deserved better-"

"Fucking right I did." You muttered, feeling tears rise in your eyes, but you refused to let them spill as you crossed your arms over your chest.

"M'sorry, Y/N. I want to make this right, just tell me how to make this right, please." Daryl begged, lifting his head to look at properly for the first time, only just realising that you had tears in your eyes. "Y/N..."

"I don't know if you can make it right... I don't know if I can ever forgive you." You said softly, closing your eyes for a second as you forced your tears back and you heard Daryl sigh. "But, I don't want us to be like this. To keep avoiding each other, we have a daughter and she might be a baby now, but when she's older she gonna want to know her father." You began to say as Daryl's sad eyes suddenly lit up with a hint of hope.

"Wait, you're lettin' me see her?" He asked, clearly not wanting to get his hopes up as he stared at you and you nodded. He was the father, you would never try keep him away from his daughter, no matter what had happened in the past, you would never do that.

"Yes, but this doesn't mean anything for us. We might be married still, but like I said I don't know if I can forgive you, I..." You trailed off, your voice breaking at the end as you took a deep breath and Daryl forced himself to stay where he was standing despite wanting nothing more than to pull you into a tight hug and wipe away your tears.

"I know." Was all he could say as you looked over at him with a small smile, before you nodded your head to indicate for him to follow as you began walking towards the prison.

You glanced over your shoulder, making sure he was following you as you walked into the prison. There were a few people around the kitchen doing their own thing, but as soon as the two of you began walking towards the cellblock everyone began staring at you.

"Enid, are you in here?" You called as you walked into the cellblock and continued walking down to your cell at the far end, Daryl following behind you.

"Yeah, just about to feed Mia." The young girl's voice replied as she walked out the cell, but instantly froze when she saw Daryl following you. Her eyes glanced back towards you noticing the sliver of tears in your eyes as she gave you a questioning look. "You alright? Are you guys good?" She asked cautiously, her eyes glancing between the two of you.

"Yeah, we're working on it. I'll feed her, go hang with Carl and Beth, I saw them out in the field near the pig pen." You said, but you could tell Enid wasn't too sure what to do as she gave you a questioning look before staring back at Daryl. "We'll be fine, I promise." You said, noticing her slight hesitation as you gave her a small smile and she nodded, handing you the empty milk bottle before she left.

You glanced over your shoulder at Daryl noticing he was biting his thumb nail and you smiled softly, he used to always do that whenever he was nervous, guess somethings never change.

You walked into the cell, placing the milk bottle on the bedside table before you leant over the cot beside the bed to find Mia sitting up staring at you with big blue eyes.

"Ma-ma." She mumbled, raising her hands towards you which you knew she did whenever she wanted to be picked up.

"Hey, baby girl." You said softly as you reached down and scooped the baby up out of the cot, holding her against your body as she instantly began fiddling with your necklace that was tucked in under your shirt. "Daryl, this is Mia. Mia is this your daddy." You introduced, despite Mia having no clue what you just said as you looked over at Daryl to find him standing in the doorway of the cell, his eyes filled with unshed tears as he stared at the two of you.

"Can you hold her while I get her formula ready?" You asked turning towards him as he stared at you for a few seconds before he must have finally processed what you just asked and quickly nodded.

You gently handed Mia over to him and to your surprise he instantly held her properly, cradling her in his arms like it was second nature, even though you knew for a fact that Daryl had never held a baby in his life... then it clicked. Judith. He had helped raise Judith, Carol had told you about what happened after she born, how Daryl stepped up and if it wasn't for him that little girl wouldn't be here today. Part of you was proud hearing that story, but the other part of you was just sad, sad that he looked after Judith and kept her safe, but didn't hang around long enough to even meet his own daughter.

Shaking your head at the memory you turned around and began getting the formula ready. You didn't want to think about any of that right now, Daryl was here, Mia was alive, that was all that really matter at the moment.

You turned back towards Daryl once you got the bottle ready, to find him rocking her in his arms gently as he looked up to meet your eyes as he gave you a small smile before you handed him the bottle.

Mia was a very shy baby, it took her nearly a month to warm up to Enid, but she seemed to be very relaxed around Daryl as she took to the bottle naturally while Daryl held it up for her, her little hands grasping the bottle eagerly.

"You're good with her. She's never let anyone other than Enid and I feed her." You commented, watching Daryl as he stared down at the baby in his arms, his long hair falling over his face, but you didn't miss the corners of Daryl's lips twitching up into a slight smile at your comment.

Neither of you said anything for the next couple of minutes as you leant against the wall of your cell while Daryl fed Mia the bottle. You have dreamt of this day since she was born, having Daryl with you and holding her, but you never thought it would actually happen. You never actually thought you'd see him again, but here he was and you had no idea what to do.

"She's so perfect." Daryl whispered as finished burping the baby girl and he began rocking her in his arms gently. You watched him for a few seconds noticing his shoulders shaking slightly and you knew he was trying not to cry as he stared at his daughter in his arms. "M'sorry, Y/N... I can't even imagine what it was like to have her in this world... I'm so sorry ya had to do it alone." He said, his voice wavering as he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes so you didn't see, but you did.

"Let's take a walk." You said calmly, walking over to him as he looked up at you, tears brimming in his eyes as he nodded and carefully handed Mia back to you.

-

Daryl didn't say anything as he followed you back out the cellblock, he didn't even ask where you were taking him or why you guys needed to take a walk. Which was good, because you didn't really know where you were going. You just knew being outside always calmed Daryl down so you figured that was the best place for the two of you talk.

A few people glanced your way as you walked through the courtyard, but luckily none of them said anything as the two of you walked into the field in front of the prison. You slowly began walking along the fence line of the prison, Mia resting on your hip as you held the baby girl who seemed to enjoy the outside scenery around you guys.

You didn't talk for a few minutes, Daryl walking along your side occasionally playing around with Mia who was constantly looking over at him curiously and pointing towards him. Just the first few minutes outside seemed to calm Daryl down, so you figured he was ready to talk.

"Where were you when this whole thing started?" You asked, glancing over at him noticing he was already looking at you, his eyes focused on the scar down the side of your face before they flicked up to your eyes.

"Travelin' around with Merle, doin' whatever he said we'd be doin' that day. We went back for ya, when we realised what was actually happenin' we came back, but ya were already gone." Daryl explained before he began digging into his pocket as he pulled out a small piece of paper.

You gasped in shocked realising that it was the ultrasound photo you had stapled with the note you left in the trailer all those months ago. He really did come back, he tried to find you, he kept the photo... holy shit.

"The note said ya were goin' to Atlanta, so that's where we went, then we found this group. We kept lookin' for ya... I thought ya were dead 'n then Merle..." Daryl trailed off, shaking his head at himself as he looked away from you and now you had tears in your eyes. Daryl didn't need to explain any further, it was clear Merle had died. Merle was like a brother to you, but you couldn't even imagine how Daryl must feel.

"I'm so sorry." You replied softly not knowing what else to say, what else could you possibly say?

"He went out fightin', it's what he would've wanted." Daryl simply replied and you nodded in agreement. If there was one thing you knew about Merle Dixon it was that he loved a fight, you assumed that didn't change when the world ended.

"Eie Eie!" Mia suddenly called, taking your attention away from Daryl as you looked down at her and smiled realising that she had spotted Enid by the pig pen where Carl, Beth and Rick were working.

"Yeah sweetheart, that's Enid." You replied as Daryl smiled watching the excitement on his daughters face when she spotted the familiar person.

"How'd ya survive out there on your own, did Enid help ya help deliver the baby?" Daryl asked once Mia seemed to lose interest in Enid as she went back to fiddling with your shirt as the two of you continued walking around the field.

"I'm tougher than I look, Dixon. But, I wasn't with Enid at the start of this, I came across another group... they weren't very good people, but there was one woman who took me under her wing. Her name was Mia. She used to be a midwife, she taught me everything I know about babies... she helped me deliver our daughter. She saved my life." You explained glancing around the field as you tried to forget about that night in the warehouse.

"Wait, what do ya mean that 'they weren't very good people'?"

"The leader was an asshole, thought all the women in the group belonged to him, thought we all had to pay him back for keeping us safe-" You began to say before Daryl cut you off.

"He didn't... he didn't ra-" Daryl started to ask, but you shook your head knowing what he was going say.

"He barely touched me thanks to Mia, but when he tried to rape her, I killed him. He got a good swing at me with his knife, hence the scar, but I killed him. Then a herd came, took down our camp and Mia sacrificed herself for me and the baby. If it wasn't for her the walkers would have gotten us too." You explained, glancing over at Daryl as he stared at you in shock before you continued to tell him about how you found Enid and the cabin and how you met Rick while out scavenging.

"Shit, Y/N, m'sorry ya had to go through all that. I should've been there to protect ya, to keep ya both safe." Daryl replied, shaking his head at himself as you reached over and grabbed his shoulder, the first form of physical contact the two of you have had since that night in the trailer.

"It's in the past, it doesn't matter. You're here now and that's what counts." You said, giving him a small smile as he rested his hand on top yours which was still holding his shoulder and he nodded.

"Where do we go from here?" He asked, as you guys came to a stop by the open gate into the courtyard and you shrugged your shoulders. You honestly had no idea, you'd never been in this kind of situation before, where should you guys go from here? There's no way you'd be able to just pick up back where you'd left off, but it was clear you both still had feelings for each other. Hell, you've know each other since you were 11-years-old, what were you meant to do?

"I don't know." You answered honestly, adjusting your hold on Mia who seemed to be now asleep in your arms and you smiled softly at her before looking back at Daryl. "I guess we just take it slow, see what happens?"

"Yeah, I'd like that." Daryl agreed with a small nod as the two of you began walking back towards the prison.

"I'm sorry for punching you the other day, and slapping you way back when." 

"Nah, I deserved it. Ya should've done more than just hit me, I was outta line... Still don't know why you're even givin' me a second chance, ya deserve better." Daryl muttered, as grabbed the door to the prison and held it open for you.

"Says the man holding a door open for me. But no, I shouldn't have done that. You have had enough punches to last a lifetime, of all people I should have known better than that." You replied.

You had lost count of the amount of days Daryl rocked up to school sporting fresh bruises, he refused to tell you how he got them at first, but eventually he opened up to you. Hell, you've been over his house a few times when you were teenagers and witnessed his father beating him with your own eyes. You've seen the scars on his back and across his chest, you knew what they were from, he's been hurt and beaten too many times to count. He was strong and the bravest man you knew, but you should have never added to that number of punches.

Daryl stopped walking as you reached the cellblocks, his eyes glancing down at Mia fast asleep in your arms before he looked up, meeting your gaze. "You're too good for me, Sunshine. Always have been... M'gonna go take watch, if ya need help with Mia, I... I would like to help wherever I can. I know ya can't forgive me for what I did, but I wanna prove to ya that I'll be here for ya 'n our daughter."

"Thanks, Dixon." You replied, giving him an appreciative nod as he began walking off back towards the door to the courtyard. You watched him as he left, tattered angel wings sewn to the back of Merle's old leather vest that Daryl seemed to wear everywhere and you smiled softly realising it was a tribute to his brother. Maybe things were going to be okay between the two of you... but with your luck something was bound to go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well Daryl finally got to meet his daughter and I might have teared up writing part of this chapter. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


	7. Chapter 7

***Three Months Later***

The next few months went by in a flash. You, Enid and Mia had finally settled into life at the prison and everyone seemed to like you guys. You continued to work on the fence and guard duty in the watch towers. Enid wanted to help out around the community like you were, so she began helping Beth out with baby sitting which she seemed to enjoy.

Your relationship with Daryl was complicated to say the least, he helped out with Mia whenever you asked without hesitation. Even looked after her a few times when you joined Glenn and Michonne on a few supply runs, despite him not liking you going outside the prison, but he couldn't tell you what to do, he didn't have that privilege.

You still had no idea what to do about the two of you, you wanted to be together again, you missed Daryl so much, God, you missed him. But every time you looked at him it all just came flooding back. The pain. The loss. The loneliness. The regret. The sadness, everything you felt that night when he walked out... You'd never say it out loud, but you were scared to be hurt like that again, you were scared of him leaving, you were scared of losing Daryl again because you knew that if you let him get close, if you let him back in and then it all happened again... you wouldn't be able to handle it.

"Y/N? Hey, Y/N?" A voice called out from behind you somewhere, taking you away from your thoughts as you turned around to find Rick walking across the field towards you as you leant against the wooden fence of the pigpen. "I've been calling out to you for a while, everything alright?" He asked as he reached your side, leaning against the fence beside you with a concerned expression.

"Yeah, sorry must have just zoned out for a second there. You guys still going on the supply run today to that hospital?" You asked, glancing over at the former deputy.

They had been planning this supply run for weeks. Daryl and Glenn had scouted it out from a distance a while ago and the place was crawling with walkers, but as far as they could tell the inside looked fairly intact which meant there might still be medicine and supplies inside and you guys really needed it. You were on your last lot of antibiotics and Maggie had used the last of the painkillers when she sliced her hand pretty badly on some wire. The group really needed the supplies, so Rick, Daryl, Glenn and Tyreese had been going over different plans for the past week to make sure they had the best plan of attack.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Rick replied, not looking at you as he stared at the four pigs playing around inside the pen, but you didn't say anything as you waited for him to continue talking. "Tyreese isn't feeling too great today and I know it's a dangerous run, we haven't done something like this in a long time... but you're one of the best out there, you scavenged that town near your cabin all the time, despite it being infested with walkers. I've seen you on supply runs before, Michonne has told me how good you are out there, you're fast, stealthy and can think on your feet. I wouldn't be asking this if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary, but we could really use your help. Maggie is still recovering with her hand, Sasha is looking after her brother, I don't trust that new Bob guy yet, I'm not letting Carl out there and I need Michonne to stay home and watch over the place-"

"You can stop talking, I'm in. This supply run is important for the group and I like being out there." You replied as Rick visibly relaxed and you chuckled. "You guys are gonna have to go over the plan with me though, I wasn't there when you talked about it."

"That's fine, we were gonna go over it again anyway just to make sure everyone knew what to do, but I haven't told Daryl that you are coming yet, he won't like it." Rick informed and you rolled your eyes. Of course he won't like it, doesn't like you on fence duty because 'you're too close to the walkers' but you just ignored him. He was trying to look out for you, but you hated being told what you can and can’t do, you could take care of yourself and he needed to realise that.

"Well bad luck for him because he doesn't get a say about it. Now lets go, we're losing daylight." You replied, pushing yourself away from the fence as you and Rick began walking back towards the courtyard to get ready for the supply run.

-

The conversation with Daryl went about as well as you expected, but in the end he gave up arguing, realising he was fighting a losing battle, but he still wasn't happy about it.

You made sure Enid and Carl had everything under control with Mia and Judith before you left, but they already knew what to do and didn't mind looking after the baby girls while you guys were away. They had Carol, Beth, Maggie and the others there anyway so you knew they would be fine.

You, Glenn and Rick opted to take the red pick-up truck since it had the most room for supplies, despite it being a little squishy inside the single cab with the three of you, while Daryl took his motorcycle. You wanted to join him on the back of the old Triumph just like the old days, but you knew that wasn't a good idea. You guys were still trying to figure everything out and you didn't want to get too close, not yet. So, you were stuck sitting between Rick and Glenn, in the rusty pick-up truck that didn't have a working air conditioner, but with the windows down were down with a Queen CD playing softly through the speakers, so it wasn't so bad.

The three of you went over the plan again; the hospital was surrounded by a security wire fence that was full of walkers, Glenn was gonna set off an old wind-up alarm clock on the South side of the building after you opened one of the gates to lour all the walkers roaming around. Once the walkers were cleared out two of you were gonna sweep the ground and basement level while the other two were gonna sweep the second and third level to save time.

The plan seemed to work for the most part, there were only a few walkers left inside the fence that you guys took care of easily before breaking into the three-story building, It was clear that this place fell early, most of the walkers were either in nurse uniforms, hospital gowns or military gear, which gave you hope that they might still have supplies inside.

Rick and Glenn had disappeared downstairs to check the basement first, while you and Daryl went upstairs, figuring you'll start at the second floor and work your way up. You each had a walkie talkie strapped to your belt to keep each other up to date along with your usual knives and gun holstered around your belts.

"Clear." You heard Daryl yell from down the hallway as you continued sweeping the room you were currently in. You decided to take all the rooms on the left side of the hallway while Daryl took the ones on the right.

"Clear." You called, as you began walking back out into the hallway after another room was yet again completely clean. "I got a few bottles of stuff, but I have no idea what it is. Can't pronounce the name on the label but it seems scientific so it'll probably be useful and make sense to Hershel." You stated, walking out the room to find Daryl waiting with his crossbow in his hands and chuckled at what you just said before glanced around the empty hallway sceptically.

"Don't like this. Somethin' ain't right, where are all the walkers?" Daryl muttered glancing back over at you as you shrugged your shoulders.

"Maybe there aren't any inside, maybe we just got lucky and found the only building that isn't crawling with the dead." You replied as you began walking down the hallway to the first room on the right where you and Daryl had been putting anything that seemed useful so Rick and Glenn could look over everything and decide what was worth bringing back and what wasn't.

"Nah, nothin' ain’t ever this easy." You heard Daryl say and you rolled your eyes placing the bottles down beside the bags of supplies you guys had already collected. He had a point, but maybe this was actually going to be an easy supply run for once, it was bound to happen eventually right?

"Don't be such a downer, if everything keeps going smoothly we'll back home sooner than we expected and-" You began to say, walking back out into the hallway before Daryl began speaking.

"Shhh. Ya hear that?" He questioned, his voice now softer and you barely heard him from the other end of the hallway, but you instantly stopped moving, trusting Daryl's instincts more than your own as you tried to listen to whatever he was talking about it.

"Sounds like it's comin' from the roo-" Daryl started to say, but he never got to finish when suddenly the roof above you began to crack and you could have sworn you heard Daryl shout something, but you had no idea what he said before the roof came crashing down.

-

For a few seconds you couldn't process anything other than the high pitched ringing in your eyes. You were aware that you were now lying on the ground on the other side of the hallway, but you had no idea how you got there. The last thing you remembered was Daryl shouting your name before the roof collapsed and everything turned black. Daryl. Where was he?

You quickly sat yourself up, wincing at a sharp pain in your leg, but you ignored it when your eyes landed on a familiar body lying down beside you. He was lying on his back, his long hair covering most of his face but you didn't miss the blood coming from a cut along his forehead.

"Daryl?" You called, shaking his shoulders slightly, but he didn't move and you felt yourself starting to panic as you pressed your fingers to his neck and you sighed with relief realising that he was just unconscious.

He must have pushed you out the way before the roof collapsed because you were standing directly under the section of roof that was currently caved in, the floor in front of you covered in debris. If he didn't push you out the way you would have been dead, that was plain and simple.

"Y/N? Daryl? Someone answer! What the hell was that? Guys?!" Ricks voice shouted through the walkie talkie still clipped to your belt, but before you could reply familiar groans began filling the air and your blood turned cold. Shit.

You quickly looked away from Daryl as you glanced down the hallway, but even through all the dust in the air you could spot the figures stumbling out from all the debris on the ground and falling down through the hole in the roof into the hallway.

"Daryl. I need you to wake up, right now." You whispered turning back towards him, but his eyes were still closed as he laid on the floor beside you completely out of it. "God damnit, Daryl, you have to wake up. I can't take them all on by myself." You said, glancing over your shoulder towards the walkers that were now stumbling in your direction. There had to be over 20 of them, more falling through the roof as the seconds passed.

You could hear Rick and Glenn both shouting through the walkie, but you didn't have time to reply as you pulled out your axe from your belt and forced yourself onto your feet, but nearly fell over again as pain flared through your right leg.

Glancing down you realised your jeans were ripped by the side your calf and you grimaced spotting all the blood seeping out a large gash on the side of your leg and you knew you wouldn't be able to fight against the walkers like this.

You quickly holstered your axe and pulled out your handgun, realising just how close the walkers were now as you pulled the trigger, killing the ones inches away from grabbing you before you quickly dropped back down beside Daryl shaking his shoulders, but he wouldn't wake up.

"Shit." You hissed, glancing back down the hallway towards the walkers before you grabbed Daryl's arms and began dragging him backwards, ignoring the burning pain coming from your leg as you forced yourself to keep moving.

It only took a couple of seconds but you managed to pull him into one of the rooms and quickly shut the door behind yourself as the walkers slammed against the door. Their faces squished up against the small sheet of glass in the middle of the as they tried to get to you.

Thinking on your feet you limped over to the hospital gurney in the middle of the room and pushed it against the door, satisfied that if the door didn't hold then the bed would give you guys an extra few seconds to prepare for the walkers.

"Daryl? Y/N? Can you hear me?" Rick's voice called through the walkie again as you dropped down beside Daryl, groaning at the pain in your lower leg. But you were more worried about the man in front of you as you brushed the hair away from his face, spotting a cut along his forehead which had been bleeding heavily, but didn't seem too bad now.

"Yeah." You sighed into the walkie, only just realising how out of breath you were as you held the walkie to you mouth. "Get out of the building... There's walkers, I didn't shut the door to the stairs, it won't be long before they get down to you guys."

"Shit, where are you? We heard a crash and gunshots." Rick replied, his voice laced with concern as you stared at Daryl.

"Roof collapsed, walkers came down, I had to use my gun. Daryl's unconscious, he hit his head. But I got us inside a hospital room, we're safe from the walkers." You explained with limited words as you glanced around the room trying to think of a way out of this. Your eyes landed on the bags of supplies you and Daryl had collected in the corner of the room. Holy shit, you picked the right room to lock yourself in.

"Shit. Can you guys get out?" Rick's voice asked as you opened one of the backpacks and pulled out a roll of bandages. Carefully you pulled your jeans up over the deep gash in your leg and you winced at the sight of your leg before you quickly began wrapping the bandage around it. It definitely needed stitches, but you couldn't do that right now. "Y/N?" Rick asked again as you finished wrapped the cut.

"No, walkers are covering the hallway, trying to get through the door, we can't get out." You winced standing up from the supplies of bags as you limped towards the window on the other side of the room. Shit, that was a long drop, no way would you guys be able to jump out.

"Are you hurt?" Rick asked, and you mentally cursed yourself for not taking your finger off the button quick enough when you winced earlier.

"I'm fine. You guys need to get out the building, I'll figure something out." You replied, turning back towards Daryl as you sat down beside him.

"We aren't leaving without you guys." Glenn replied.

"You don't have a choice." You snapped before lowering the walkie as you took a deep breath. "There's a window, it's a long drop, but if we had a ladder or something we might be able to get out." You informed, glancing back towards the window, knowing it was your only option, but if you tried without a ladder you were almost certain you'd fall to your death.

"There's a ladder back at the prison." Rick stated and you sighed with relief. "Will you guys be alright in there while we get it?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine." You replied, clipping the walkie back to your belt as you grabbed one of the bags and pulled out a packet of alcohol wipes and sticker stitches.

"This is gonna sting, good thing you're not awake." You commented to yourself as you began cleaning the wound on Daryl's forehead, wiping away the blood before you started applying the sticker stiches.

Once you finished checking him over for further injuries you stood back up, grabbing the pillow from the hospital gurney, double checking that the door was still secure despite the walkers banging against it.

You limped back over to Daryl, placing the pillow under his head before you sat down beside him, leaning your back against the wall. You reloaded your handgun and rested it over your lap as you stared at the walkers through the glass slat in the door.

You sat there for nearly 20 minutes, the glass in the middle of the door now completely broken as you stared the walkers rotten hands trying to reach into the room and that's when you slowly come to realise that you and Daryl were most likely going to die here.

There was no way Rick and Glenn would get back before the walkers broke through that door. There were too many of them for you to take on even if Daryl did wake up, there was too many of them.

You were never going to see Mia again... or Enid. Your daughter was going to grow up without a mother, Enid was going to lose another person she loved...

You let your thoughts wonder for a while as you thought of the two girls before you felt a few tears fall down your cheeks as you wiped them away.

You had spend the past four months trying to keep Daryl away, trying so hard to not let him back in, to not let your feelings get the better of you because you were scared that he was going to leave again. You were scared to lose him again. But, now... it looks like you had just wasted all that time because you were both going to die anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Posts chapter than quickly hides* Another cliff hanger... my bad. But there’s only ONE MORE CHAPTER LEFT!! I can’t believe this mini-series is nearly finished, this has been so much fun to write, despite making myself cry during the first few chapters when Daryl was an asshole to Y/N. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all are enjoying this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


	8. Chapter 8

You guys were going to die. There was no way out... all you could do was wait for the walkers to finally break through the door. Maybe if you were lucky it'd be a quick death, or maybe you'd just put pull the trigger yourself so you didn't have to feel the walkers eating you alive.

You shook your head at yourself, knowing negative thoughts weren't going to help, but you couldn't help it. Your eyes were glued to the walkers by the door but you weren't focused on them, you weren't really focused on anything other than your own thoughts.

"Y/N? What happened?" Daryl's groggy voice asked and your head snapped away from the door as you looked down at him beside you. He was already sitting up, holding his hand to the cut on his forehead and you would have been shocked that you didn't hear him move, but you were just too relieved that he was actually awake to think of anything else.

"Oh thank God." You gasped, instantly throwing your arms around his shoulders as you pulled him into a hug. You felt his body tense at the sudden unexpected contact, but in a split second he relaxed, wrapping his arms around you as he hugged you back. God, you missed hugging him.

"How'd we get in here? What happened?" Daryl asked in confusion as you broke away, both of you sitting back against the wall as he stared at the walkers outside the door.

"The roof collapsed, you saved my life and hit your head in the process." You said motioning towards his stitches as he raised his hand, gently touching his forehead and wincing once he bumped the stitches. "Rick and Glenn have gone back to the prison to get a ladder, it's our only option."

"Wait, ya got me in this room yourself?" He asked, turning away from the door as he looked at you properly for the first time and he spotted the tears in your eyes. He instantly grabbed your hand in your lap squeezing it gently. "We're alive, it's okay." He said gently but you shook your head.

"That door is gonna break before they get back. You didn't see how many walkers were out there, they'll push through the door it's only a matter of time." You replied quietly as you wiped your eyes with your free hand, hating how weak you were being right now.

"Nah, I ain't lettin' ya die. Not like this, we just gotta think of a plan." Daryl replied, brushing his thumb over the top of your hand soothingly, but again you shook your head.

"I've been thinking for the past 30 minutes and all I can come up with is tying all those bedsheets together and using it as a rope or something, but I can't tie strong enough knots."

"I can." He simply replied and you couldn't help the chuckle that left your lips as you shook your head in disbelief. How did you not even think of that? Of course Daryl could tie knots, you've seen him do it a thousands times before.

You didn't bother to reply with words as Daryl quickly stood up and began pulling the sheets off the gurney by the door. You gingerly stood up, trying your best not to limp as you began opening various cupboards trying to find more blankets.

"Here." You said, grabbing a stack of them from one of the cupboards as you turned around to Daryl to find him already having tied two of the sheets together from the gurney as you handed him the four spare sheets.

It took a few minutes but eventually he managed to tie them all together as he walked over to the window. You handed him your axe as he smashed the glass before handing it back to you. He tied one end of the sheets to some metal handle on the wall before he dropped the chain of sheets out the window.

"It's about a 12 foot drop from the bottom of the sheets, but hopefully they get back with the ladder in time." Daryl said, leaning out the window as he took in just how high up you guys were before he turned back towards you as you finished tucking the axe into your belt and walked towards him. "You're limping." He suddenly stated as he quickly rushed over to you, grabbing your shoulders.

"I'm fine." You lied, but it was clear by Daryl's expression that he didn't believe you and you sighed. "I must have cut my leg when the roof collapsed, I'm fine." You insisted as his eyes glanced down to our legs, catching sight of the bandaged though the rip in your jeans.

"Show me." He said, motioning towards the bandage and you sighed as you sat down on the ground reaching for the bottom of your jeans about to pull them up so Daryl to could look before you froze. You hadn't shaved your legs since the world turned to hell. Daryl had only ever seen you clean shaven, but the idea of shaving was about as foreign to you as the idea of going back to work at the bar. Why were you even so self conscious about this? It was Daryl, you had been with him since you were teenagers, there was practically nothing that he didn't know about you.

The thought of shaving had never even crossed your mind, Maggie had offered you a shaver once when she found a packet while on a supply run, but you told her to give it to someone else. It was a luxury item these days and you didn't see the need to do it, but now you kinda wished you did.

"What's wrong?" Daryl suddenly questioned as he crouched down in front of you noticing your hesitation.

"No nothing, it's just... I haven't... I haven't shaved in ages." You admitted, dropping your head as you felt your cheeks burn slightly in embarrassment, although you didn't know why you were embarrassed. It was the damn apocalypse, who had time for shaving anyway?

"That seriously what ya worryin' 'bout girl?" Daryl asked and you nodded slightly, lifting your head as Daryl looked at you shaking his head. "Ya should know that I don't give a shit 'bout that, you're hurt, let me see."

"It looks worse than it is." You said quietly as you pulled your jeans up over the bandage as you began unwrapping the white bandage, wincing as you reached the end of the bandage which was stuck the cut skin and blood.

"Shit, girl." Daryl muttered, taking in just how deep the gash was, but the bandaged seemed to have done a good job at stopping the bleeding. "Ya stitched me up and ya didn't even stitch ya self up? What were ya thinkin'?"

"If I'm being honest I don't think I was." You replied causing Daryl to frown at you, but he didn't get a chance to reply before one of the hinges suddenly busted off the door as the walkers pushed against it. "Shit, we need to go." You instructed as you quickly wrapped the bandaged back around your leg and threw the two duffle bags of medical supplies over your shoulders before you both rushed towards the window.

"That's a long way down." You commented, not even bothering to hide the worry in your tone as you turned towards Daryl who was matching your expression before another hinge on the door busted off and he snapped into action knowing there was only two more hinges on the door before it broke.

"Go down first, I'll make sure it doesn't break." Daryl instructed as he doubled checked the knot on the metal bar and seem satisfied with it before he looked back over at you as you stood beside him in complete shock. "Y/N." Daryl repeated, grabbing your shoulder to get you to focus.

"I know, I know. God, this is a terrible idea." You mumbled nervously as you took a deep breath before you climbed onto the window ledge, your legs dangling down as you stared at the ground down below you. Fuck, this was a crazy idea.

"I ain't lettin' ya fall. Just trust me." Daryl said from behind you, his hand still on your shoulder as you nodded before your grabbed the chain of sheets, glancing over your shoulder towards him. "Do ya still trust me?"

"I never stopped." You replied, moving one of your hands from the sheets as you grabbed the back of Daryl's neck, pulling him towards you gently as you pressed your lips to his and he kissed you back. "As soon as I'm down you get your ass down as well, that door won't last much longer." You instructed as you rested your forehead against his and he nodded, pressing another kiss to your lips before you grabbed the sheets and began lowering yourself down.

Terrified was an understatement. But you eventually reached the bottom of the sheets, your arms burning from having to hold your body weight the entire time as you glanced down hating how far down 12 feet actually was. God, this was gonna hurt, you thought to yourself before you let go of the sheets and dropped to the ground.

Your legs instantly buckled from under you as collapsed to the ground, a strangled scream slipping from your lips as you grabbed your injured leg in pain, fresh blood now seeping through the bandage. The duffle bags landed on the ground beside you, but you didn't miss the shattering of glass inside and you hoped like hell that some of the supplies survived the fall.

You didn't have time to even check if Daryl had began climbing down because three walkers were stumbling towards you from around the corner of the building, no doubt having heard you scream when you hit the ground.

You pulled your axe out from your belt, knowing you would only draw more in if you used your gun before you quickly down the walkers, taking a little longer than it probably should have, but in your defence you couldn't put much weight on your right leg.

"Y/N!" Daryl's voice yelled as you spun around, not liking the panic in his tone and your eyes went wide when you spotted the walkers leaning out the window you guys were just in, Daryl half way down the rope of sheets.

"Hurry!" You shouted, pulling your handgun out as you began firing at the walkers in the window, knowing that if they fell out then they'd probably hit Daryl on the way down. Headshot after headshot, you fired at the walkers in the widow until your gun clicked indicating that you out of bullets.

You cursed under your breath, hurriedly pulling out the spare magazine you kept in your pocket as you reloaded the gun, but it was too late. A walker had climbed out the window and you looked up just in time to see it bumping into Daryl as they both fell to the ground. It was roughly a 13 foot drop from where he was and you couldn't do anything but watch as his body hit the ground. The landing itself didn't seem to bad as he managed to brace himself for the fall and landed on his side. As far as you could tell he didn't break anything, but when his head slammed back against the cement floor from the impact you knew that wasn't good.

"Daryl!" You screamed, slamming the end of your axe into the walker that had fallen with him before you dropped down beside him. "Hey, are you okay? Daryl, can you hear me?" You questioned, rolling his body over so he was laying on his back as he groaned in pain. His eyes fluttering open and closed a few times and you knew he was borderline conscious and unconscious.

Blood was seeping out from the cut on his forehead, matting his hair together, the stitches having busted from the impact as you quickly ripped the sleeve off your flannel shirt. Frantically tying it around his head, knowing you didn't have time to try find the bandages in the bag.

Walkers were slowly falling from the window, one after the other, splattering down on the cement around you, most them dying from the fall, but you knew you had to get out of there before one landed on top of you.

"Head hurts." Daryl winced, his eyes locking with yours as you finished tying the makeshift bandage around his forehead before you grabbed his shoulders and tried to get him to sit up.

"I know, I'm sorry, but we have to get out of here. Can you stand?" You asked, as you quickly threw the bags back over your shoulders before turning back towards Daryl lying on the ground. He nodded softly, but didn't give any indication that he was going to stand up and you sighed. He hit his head hard, probably had a concussion and probably had no idea what was going on right now.

"You're gonna have to help me out here, Dixon. I can't exactly carry you back to the prison." You muttered through gritted teeth as you wrapped your arm around his waste, taking a deep breath before standing up. Your right leg nearly buckling from underneath you again, but you refused to go down as you readjusted your grip around Daryl's waste. His arm wrapped around your shoulders tightly, using all his energy to hold onto you so he didn't collapse.

"M'sorry." Daryl whispered, his head dropping to his chest and for a second you thought he was going to pass out, but he stayed up right as you forced your legs to move. You supported most of Daryl's weight against your side as you slowly began walking towards the open gate surrounding the hospital.

"Just stay awake, Daryl. I need you to stay awake." You begged, unable to stop yourself from groaning as you limped towards the fence trying your best to ignore the pain in your leg after each step as you focused on the opened gate that you guys had came in.

You had parked the truck and Daryl's motorcycle a mile down the road before the hospital so you could sneak into the building undetected. But now you really wished you just parked the vehicles right in front of the damn building. Rick and Glenn would have taken the truck back to the prison which meant it was only Daryl's motorcycle, which was fine because Daryl had taught you how to ride it years ago, but it was just a matter of actually getting there first.

The two of you walked for nearly five minutes, well you walked for nearly five minutes while practically dragging Daryl down the road. His head resting against your shoulder and if it wasn't for the fact that he kept moving his legs and trying to keep some of his weight off you, you would have sworn he was unconscious.

The gash on your leg was burning and you could feel fresh blood dripping down your ankle, but you had long ago pushed that to the back of your head as you tightened your hold around Daryl's waist and pushed forward.

You only managed to walk for a few more minutes before Daryl's weight suddenly got a lot heavier as you quickly holstered your gun and grabbed his chest with your now free hand to keep him from falling face first into the bitumen road.

"I-I can't... Gotta stop." Daryl winced and you nodded as you took a few more steps to the side of the road before gently lowering the two of you to the ground, helping him sit up against a tree as you collapsed on the ground beside him, breathing heavily. "M'sorry, I can't... Everythin' is spinnin'... I can't keep goin'."

"Shhh, it's okay." You said quietly, as you sat yourself up on the dirt, dropping the bags from your shoulders as you grabbed your leg with a wince before you looked over at Daryl who had his head resting back against the tree behind him completely exhausted but his eyes were open and looking at you in sorrow. "Not your fault, Dixon. You probably have a concussion from that hit, shocked you're still conscious." You said, your eyes scanning your surroundings making sure there weren't any walkers before you focused back on Daryl.

"Ya gotta go. M'slowing ya down. Get the bike, I'll be fine." He muttered, causing you to roll your eyes.

"Like hell I'm leaving you here. You look ready to pass out any second, no way am I leaving you here to be walker food." You responded, in a stern tone causing Daryl to shut up for a few minutes as you both sat there in silence. He had his eyes closed now as you continued scanning your surroundings, but you knew Rick and Glenn would come down this road on their way back and once they were in range for the walkie talkies they'd be trying to contact you, you just had to wait.

"M'sorry for leavin' ya. No husband should ever do that to their wife-" Daryl began to say, surprising you that he was still awake, but you quickly cut him off.

"Shut up, save your energy." You replied, not wanting to sound mean, but he needed to save his energy and you really didn't want to have that conversation now.

"When the dead started to rise I thought I was seein' the end of everythin' 'n the one thing I regretted 'bout my life was leaving ya that day. I was too much of a coward to come back, even when Merle saw ya 'n decked me for what I did to ya... I was too scared to come back, thought I was gonna turn out like my old man if I had a kid... Thought ya were better off without me, that ya hated me." Daryl said quietly, looking down at his lap as you closed your eyes. You had spent the past few months trying to forget about all of that, trying to forget about how much he hurt you so you could try move forward, but couldn't.

"You're right, I hate you for what you did. I hate you." You replied, shaking your head as you felt tears brimming in your eyes, but you didn't let them spill.

"No ya don't." Daryl whispered and you chuckled hating how well Daryl knew you, because he was right.

"I should, I should hate you. But I love you. I love you, Dixon, because I can't help it." You replied as a few tears slipped from your eyes. "We have been through so much since we met, we have gone through so much in the past and we always came back to each other... and I understand why you reacted the way you did when I told you that I was pregnant. It took me a while to figure it out, but for the past six months all I've done is think and I understand. You didn't want to become like your father, you didn't want to treat this baby like how your father treated you and Merle, and I understand because I didn't want to become like my parents either." You began explaining, unable to stop the tears falling down your cheeks as you glanced over at Daryl to find his own eyes glazed with unshed tears.

"I forgive you. I forgive you, Dixon. For all of it, everything. It's all in the past and if we make through this... _when_ we make it through this, we can start over and have a future, together. You, me, Mia and Enid, we will get it right this time." You said, grabbing Daryl's hand hating how weak he squeezed your hand in response as you watched tears slowly trickle down his face.

"Ya mean that?" He asked, his voice thick with emotion as he stared at you in disbelief and you nodded as you carefully moved closer to him, leaning your back against the tree beside him as he rested his head against your shoulder.

"Hey, no don't fall asleep. I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't fall asleep with a concussion." You said after a few seconds, but as you looked down at Daryl's head on your shoulder you realised it was too late. "Shit." You sighed, as you kissed the top of his head before unclipping your walkie talkie from your belt.

"Rick? Can you guys hear me?" You asked as you held the radio up, but got no response indicating that he wasn't in range yet and you sighed resting your head back against the tree.

You continued trying to get a hold of them through the walkie every few minutes for nearly an hour with no luck, before a car engine rumbled in the distance. You looked down the road, spotting a familiar lime green SUV with a ladder strapped to the roof heading in your direction. About damn time, you thought to yourself and within a few seconds the car came to a screeching halt.

"The hell happened to your walkie?" You questioned, unable to hide the relief in your tone as you held your walkie talkie in the air towards Rick as him and Glenn rushed out the car towards the two of you.

"It went flat, how the hell did you guys get out? Is he alright? Are you alright?" Rick frantically questioned as he crouched down in front of the two of you, Daryl still pass out against your shoulder.

"I'll explain everything on the way back, let's just go home. Daryl has a head injury, I don't know how bad it is, but he passed out an hour ago." You quickly answered, looking down at Daryl. The sleeve of your flannel that you had wrapped around his head had seem to stop the bleeding from his cut, but you knew it still needed stitches.

"Glenn, help me get him in the car." Rick instructed as he carefully grabbed Daryl from your side, picking him up from under his arms as Glenn grabbed his feet.

You watched as they slowly carried Daryl's unconscious body to the car before you carefully stood yourself up, wincing as put pressure on your bad leg.

Looking down you could see the bandage wrapped around your lower leg since your jeans were still rolled up. You winced spotting the blood that had seeped through the white bandage, painting it a crimson red.

You picked up the two bags from the ground beside you as walked over to the car and threw them in the boot.

"Thought you said that you weren't hurt?" Rick suddenly questioned as you closed the boot of the car and turned around to find him standing beside you looking at your leg.

"We had bigger things to deal with. Come on, let's get out of here." You simply replied and Rick nodded as you climbed into the car beside Daryl, who they had laid down along the back seat. You lifted his head into your lap carefully and slowly ran your fingers through his hair as you stared out the window while Rick drove.

-

***12 hours later***

_"I have died everyday waiting for you_  
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you  
For a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more..." You sang quietly, bouncing Mia on your knee as the little girl cooed in happiness. You glanced over your shoulder towards Enid who was standing behind you, getting her bottle ready as she listened to you sing.

 _"And all along I believed I would find you_  
Time has bought your heart to me  
I have loved you for a thousand years  
I'll love you for a thousand more..."

"Could get used to wakin' up 'n hearin' that." Daryl whispered, his voice hoarse as he slowly opened his eyes from the bed in his cell and you sighed with relief, unable to stop the smile forming on your face.

"The singing or Mia laughing for no apparent reason?" You asked from your chair beside his bed as Daryl carefully propped himself up with his elbow as he reached out towards Mia, brushing his thumb over the baby girls cheek as she giggled from your lap.

"Both." He replied, the corners of his lips twitching up in a slight smile as he stared at Mia before he looked over at Enid standing behind you as he turned his attention back to you. He had fresh stitches over the cut on his forehead that Hershel had done, who had also told you that Daryl definitely had a concussion, but other than that he was fine.

"I can go, if you guys want some privacy-" Enid spoke up walking over to you as she crouched down beside you and brushed Mia's hair out of her face.

"It's okay. You're family, kiddo. Stay." You replied and Enid nodded before you turned your attention back to Daryl.

"What ya said... when we were sittin' on the side of the road... 'bout forgivin' me... Did ya mean that?" Daryl asked softly, almost as if he was afraid that you might have somehow changed your mind or something as he stared over at you, his crystal blue locking with yours.

"I love you, Daryl Dixon and I meant what I said. The past is in the past, let's just focus on the future, our future." You replied leaning forward and grabbing his hand, lacing your fingers together as he pressed a gentle kiss to his lips.

"Da-da." Mia suddenly said causing Daryl to quickly pull away from you as he looked down at his daughter in your lap in a mixture of shock and happiness spreading across his face as you and Enid chuckled. Yeah, the future looked pretty damn good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this mini-series has finally come to an end... I don't even know how I feel right now. This fic has been so fun yet challenging to write and thank you to everyone who has stuck through till the end and supported this fic. 
> 
> Also, it was only mentioned briefly, but a few friends and I were talking a while ago about shaving during a zombie apocalypse and how if it ever happened then none of us would bother shaving because a) you'd have a lot more important things to worry about and b) fuck shaving, it takes forever and seriously who gives a shit, it's the apocalypse.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this series and I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below. Until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said above this is just the prologue, I promise it will get better and jump into the apocalypse real soon.   
> I hope you all are liking this fic so far and the next chapter should be up in a few days. Please like, reblog, comment etc if you like this, knowing you guys like my writing just really makes me happy and encourages me to continue.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, until next time stay safe everyone and have a great day xx


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